CERT Basic Training Class - 2025

 April 10th, 2025 - May 29th, 2025 @ OCCC Lincoln City (all Units must be completed)

Final Field Exam - Saturday, May 31st, Station 16 (required)

CERT Basic Training Class Overview

CERT Background:

The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program educates volunteers about disaster preparedness for the hazards that may impact their area and trains them basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations. CERT offers a consistent, nationwide approach to volunteer training and organization that professional responders can rely on during disaster situations, which allows them to focus on more complex tasks.

About The CERT Training Class:

If available, emergency services personnel are the best trained and equipped to handle emergencies. Following a catastrophic disaster, however, you and your community may be isolated for an extended period for a myriad of reasons, including the size of the area affected, inoperable communications systems, or unpassable roads.

CERT Basic Training prepares you to help yourself and help others in the event of a catastrophic disaster. Because emergency services personnel will not be able to help everyone immediately, you can make a difference by using your CERT training to save lives and protect property.

With training and practice, and by working as a team, you will be able to protect yourself and maximize your capability to help the greatest number of people after a disaster.

CERT Basic Training Coursework by Unit:

1. Disaster Preparedness (4/10/25)

1. Unit Overview

2. Community Preparedness: Roles and Responsibilities

3. Hazards and Their Potential Impact

4. Home and Workplace Preparedness

5. Reducing the Impact of Hazards Through Mitigation

6. CERT Disaster Response

7. Additional Training for CERT Volunteers

8. Unit Summary
   
   

2. CERT Organization (4/17/25)

1. Unit Overview

2. CERT Organization

3. CERT Mobilization

4. Documentation

5. Unit Summary
   
   

3. Disaster Medical Operations — Part 1 (4/24/25)

1. Unit Overview

2. Treating Life–Threatening Conditions

3. Basic First Aid Care

4. Unit Summary
   
   

4. Disaster Medical Operations — Part 2 (5/1/25)

1. Unit Overview

2. Mass Casualty Incidents

3. Functions of Disaster Medical Operations

4. Establishing Medical Treatment Areas

5. Conducting Head-to-Toe Assessments

6. Public Health Considerations

7. Unit Summary
   
   

5. Disaster Psychology (5/8/25)

1. Unit Overview

2. Disaster Reactions

3. Self-Care and Team Well-Being

4. Working with Survivors’ Emotional Responses

5. Unit Summary
   
   

6. Fire Safety and Utility Controls (5/15/25)

1. Unit Overview

2. Fire Chemistry

3. Fire Size-up Considerations

4. Firefighting Resources

5. Fire Suppression Safety

6. Fire and Utility Hazards

7. Hazardous Materials

8. Unit Summary
   
   

7. Light Search and Rescue Operations (5/22/25)

1. Unit Overview

2. Safety During Search and Rescue Operations

3. Conducting Interior and Exterior Search Operations

4. Conducting Rescue Operations

5. Unit Summary
   
   

8. CERT and Terrorism (5/29/25)

1. Unit Overview

2. Terrorist Goals and Tactics

3. Preparing Your Community

4. Active Shooter Situations

5. Until Help Arrives

6. Hazmat and CBRNE

7. Unit Summary
   
   

9. Course Review, Final Exam, and Disaster Simulation (5/31/25)

1. Unit Overview

2. Course Review

3. Final Exam

4. Disaster Simulation

5. Exercise Critique and Summary

From: https://community.fema.gov/PreparednessCommunity/s/cert-trainings

CERT Basic Trainings

CERT training covers basic skills that are important to know in a disaster when emergency services are not available. With training and practice, and by working as a team, you will be able to protect yourself and maximize your capability to help for the greatest number of people after a disaster.

There are 9 core units to CERT trainings.

CERT Basic Unit 1: Disaster Preparedness

In this unit, you will learn about:

• Roles and Responsibilities for Community Preparedness: How everyone in a community has a role in disaster preparedness.

• Role of CERTs: CERT organization, disaster and non-disaster roles, and laws that protect disaster workers from liability.

• Elements of Disasters and Their Impact on Infrastructure: The potential effects of extreme emergencies and disasters on electrical service; emergency services; telephone communication; transportation; and availability of food, water, shelter, and fuel.

• Personal and Organizational Preparedness: How you can prepare in advance to improve the quality of your survival and to reduce the damage from hazards

CERT Unit 2: CERT Organization

In this unit, you will learn about:

• CERT Organization: How to organize and deploy

• CERT resources according to CERT organizational principles.

• CERT Size-up: How to conduct the continual data-gathering and evaluation process at the scene of a disaster or emergency. Rescuer Safety: How to protect your own safety and your buddy’s during search and rescue.

• Documentation: Strategies for documenting situation and resource status.

CERT Units 3 and 4: Disaster Medical Operations – Part 1 and Part 2

In this unit, you will learn about:

• Assisting Disaster Medical Operations: How to assist by controlling bleeding, maintaining normal body temperature, and more.

• Mass Casualty Incidents: How to assist first responders in responding to mass casualty incidents.

• Functions of Disaster Medical Operations: Major functions of disaster medical operations.

• Disaster Medical Treatment Areas: Types of medical treatment areas. Head-to-To Assessment: How to perform a head-to-toe assessment to identify and treat injuries.

• Public Health Considerations: How to maintain hygiene and sanitation.

CERT Unit 5: Disaster Psychology

In this unit, you will learn about:

• Disaster Psychology: The psychological impact a disaster has on rescuers and survivors, and lessons on providing components of “psychological first aid.”

• Caring for Yourself and Survivors: Steps volunteers can take individually and as part of a CERT before, following, and after a disaster.

CERT Unit 6: Fire Safety and Utility Controls

In this unit, you will learn about:

• Fire Chemistry: How fire occurs, classes of fire, and choosing the correct means to extinguish each type of fire.

• Fire Size-up Considerations: How to evaluate fires, assess firefighting resources and determine a course of action.

• Portable Fire Extinguishers: How to identify types of portable fire extinguishers and how to operate them.

• Fire Suppression Safety: How to decide if you should attempt to extinguish a fire; how to approach and extinguish a fire safely.

• Fire and Utility Hazards: How to identify potential fire and utility hazards in the home and workplace; how to implement successful fire prevention strategies.

CERT Unit 7: Light Search and Rescue Operations

In this unit, you will learn about:

• Search and Rescue Size-up: How to size up the situation in which the search and rescue teams will operate.

• Conducting Interior and Exterior Search Operations: How to search systematically for disaster survivors.

• Conducting Rescue Operations: Safe techniques for lifting, leveraging, cribbing, and survivor removal.

CERT Unit 8: Terrorism and CERT

In this unit, you will learn about:

• Terrorism: Defining terrorism, including the goals and tactics of some terrorist groups, and detailing how to respond when an active shooter is in your vicinity.

• Eight Signs of Terrorism: The eight signs of terrorism and how to report suspicious activity.

• Preparing for Your Neighborhood: Steps to take to be prepared at home, work, and in your neighborhood.

• Hazardous Materials (HazMat) and Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives (CBRNe): Identifying some basic guidelines during a Hazmat or CBRNE event.

CERT Unit 9: Course Review, Final Exam and Disaster Simulation

This unit includes:

• A review of the key points from the course

• A final exam

• A final exercise