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Does the idea of teaming up with others to meet immediate lifesaving needs in the wake of a major disaster appeal to you?  If you answered “yes,” then as concerned citizens, you may want to consider enrolling in Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training offered by the Sheriff’s Office Emergency Management Section. The program is presented free of charge, in cooperation with the Sheriff’s Office Fire Rescue Division, Citrus County Health Department, Nature Coast Emergency Medical Services and Progress Energy.

Looking back on past disasters and catastrophic events, emergency management agencies across the nation were quick to recognize that immediately following a major incident, they simply may not have the resources or capabilities to meet the initial crush of demands for service.  What’s more, past experience showed these agencies the critical need for prioritizing the use of their response resources wisely.

Enter the Community Emergency Response Team concept.  As far back as 1994, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Emergency Management Institute (EMI) adopted the model created by the Los Angeles City Fire Department and began promoting the nationwide use of CERT.  This grass-roots partnering effort teams up professional service providers with the very people they serve.  More importantly, CERT empowers family members, neighbors, coworkers – everyone in the entire community – with the means to care for themselves until more help arrives.

Here in Citrus County, the first CERT training session of 2012 is set to begin in the Sheriff’s Office Emergency Operations Center at 3549 Saunders Way (off CR 491) in Lecanto.  There is no charge to attend.  Eight weekly classes are scheduled for Wednesday nights: Feb. 29, March 7, 14, 21 and 28, plus April 4, 11 and 18.

Each session runs from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., and targets such topics as disaster preparedness, team organization, fire safety, triage and treatment of life-threatening injuries, disaster psychology, terrorism awareness, light search and rescue, and more.

SKYWARN is another community-based program that’s sponsored by the National Weather Service, in conjunction with the Sheriff’s Office Emergency Management Section. By building networks of volunteer spotters to report severe local weather to NWS, the program helps to save lives, reduce injuries and mitigate property damage from life-threatening storms.

New spotters are trained in the last class of the CERT training session to report critical, life-saving information about tornadoes, hail, high winds and flooding.  Their calls assist the weather service in providing more timely and accurate weather warnings to emergency management officials, the media and the public.

Only the March 7 class will be held at a different location than the EOC.  The fire safety portion of the CERT training session is scheduled for the Citrus County Fire Training Center at 1300 S. Lecanto Highway, Building 26, also nearby in Lecanto.

Because class size is limited, pre-registration is an absolute must.  CERT trainees must attend all eight evenings of instruction in order to receive their certificate of training.

Visit the Sheriff’s Office website at www.sheriffcitrus.org, and print out the CERT volunteer application from the Emergency Management tab.  Then either mail it in or drop it off at the EOC as soon as possible.

For more information, please contact Bob Wesch, deputy director of emergency management, by e-mailing him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or calling him at 249-2708.