The Alachua County Public Safety Departments’ Emergency Management Division has begun enrolling citizens for its Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program. The next CERT class begins on Tuesday, March 2 and runs through April 13. All classes are hled on Tuesday evenings, and each session runs from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Classes meet at the Alachua County Emergency Operations Center, 1100 SE 27th St., Gainesville. The registration deadline is Feb. 26.
“It is never too early to begin preparing for the 2010 Hurricane Season,” said Emergency Management Chief David Donnelly. “There’s no better way than to attend the CERT program. CERT teaches citizens how to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters.”
The seven-week class is free to the public and covers the following topics:
- Disaster preparedness
- Fire safety
- Disaster medical operations
- Light search and rescue operations
- CERT organization and disaster psychology
- Terrorism and CERT
If you miss the deadline, or cannot make it to the classes listed above, there are two more sets of classes scheduled this year. They begin June 1 and Sept. 7.
Registration is available online.
For more information, call Emergency Management at 325-264-6500.