Area youth to get CERT training

Tom Smith, emergency preparedness director for Berkeley County, is bringing the Community Emergency Response Team to area youth.

CERT is a training program that prepares individuals to respond in the event of disasters. Smith hopes to start CERT programs through the ROTC programs at high schools throughout Berkeley County. The program is funded, in part, through a grant from the State Law Enforcement Division.

As emergency preparedness director for Berkeley County, Smith's job is to work with individuals and community agencies to raise public awareness of disaster response. He was interested in bringing CERT to Berkeley County for several reasons.

"It teaches leadership skills, develops management skills and training," Smith said. "It helps add to the number of people who are aware and able to respond to a disaster. I think everything about it is positive all the way around."

CERT also will motivate students to consider careers in emergency services and "motivate and encourage them to stay in school," Smith said.

Several school officials have shown interest in the program, Smith said. He has ordered CERT kits and is ready to go forward with training students. CERT team members are taught how to respond to disasters through drills, exercise and additional training. Participants will learn, among other things, how to identify and anticipate hazards, reduce fire hazards in the home and workplace, assist emergency responders, conduct light search and rescue, and help reduce survivor stress.

In the coming years, Smith hopes to add a CERT adult training program. CERT teams provide immediate assistance often times before emergency service personnel can arrive. Smith is working with Charleston County, which already has a CERT program to develop the organization in Berkeley County.

CERT was created by the Los Angeles City Fire Department in 1985 and is administered through the Department of Homeland Security.

For more information, visit www.citizencorps.gov. For more information about Berkeley County's CERT, call Smith at 719-4166.

Reach Jasiri Whipper at 745-5863 or jwhipper@postandcourier.com.