ABOVE: Working with members of the San Bernardino County Fire Department, CERT trainees demonstrate their disaster training skills. Photo courtesy Owen Myers
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By Caroline Lieber
Special to the Leader
Over the past two weeks, the Lucerne Valley Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) held its annual training week with sessions at the Midway Park School Room and the Community Center.
Altogether, 13 people participated in the 20-hour training program, which is designed to teach participants to anticipate and respond to disruptions and potential hazards following a disaster. Upon enrolling in the program, participants received a detailed training manual as well as a helmet, goggles and a green CERT vest.
CERT began in the wake of the events of 9/11, to strengthen community safety and preparedness through civic participation. CERT training is designed to prepare community members to help themselves and others when incidents occur. The training covers basic skills that are important to know in a disaster. Topics included disaster preparedness, fire safety, light search and rescue operations, terrorism, disaster psychology and medical operations.
This training session concluded on Oct. 17, when trainees will practice what they have learned in a simulated disaster drill.
The low-key atmosphere in the classroom belied the seriousness of the subject manner. On Thursday, Oct. 8, the evening’s topic was terrorism, and included discussions on identifying signs of terrorism, the types of weapons used by terrorists, the kind of damage that might result from a terrorist attack and ways in which to prepare for terrorist activity. One conversation focused on the terrorist nature of the perpetrators of school shootings in the recent years, and the need to talk about school safety at home.
Saturday’s fire safety training unit included an exercise in which trainees, working in pairs, demonstrated how to extinguish a live fire. The Saturday afternoon session focused on Search and Rescue techniques, including assessment of a disaster site and safe techniques for searching for and removing disaster victims. Members of San Bernardino County Firefighters and Explorers demonstrated methods for safely lifting and carrying victims to safety in a variety of circumstances. Trainees completed a drill in which they removed a victim, 180-lb dummy “Resuscitation Randy,” from beneath a fallen wall.
San Bernardino County Firefighter Kevin Phillips, who has been running these courses in Lucerne Valley since 2007, teaches the course. He estimates he has given about 20 classes in that time, resulting in 100-150 CERT-trained community members.
Attendees said they felt that what they are learning in the training is important for protecting their families and helping others in need.
“I find the classes really informative," said trainee Judy Baudoux, a special needs teacher at the high school. "I know about school safety but I think we have to think broader than that.”
Current CERT board members shared their recollections of their training. Lynn Myers, the secretary, recalled that the hardest part for her was the rescue of the dummy from under the fallen wall.
“The training can’t prepare you for everything," she said. "We learned from Kevin’s examples and from practicing. We had to think and work as a team.”
Her husband Owen Myers concurred, “It really is about learning to work together.”