Sequim CERT

06/01/2026

And that's a wrap for CERT Academy until fall! Congratulations to the most recent graduates. We're thankful for your time and talent! 🙌👏👏🏆

Interested in joining a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)? Call 360-504-2531 and register for the fall course (dates TBA) today. Classes are held over three consecutive Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and cover skills of light search and rescue, basic triage, and the systems of disaster management.

05/29/2026

It's not ALL work! CERT members appeared in the annual Sequim Irrigation Festival parade and had a blast. The talented Randall Wingett captured the spirit of CERT incredibly well, and we're glad to have him as part of the team!

This is the third year that I marched with fellow CERT volunteers in the Sequim Irrigation Festival Grand Parade. The hazy sunlight made for perfect lighting...

05/26/2026

CERT Tip Tuesday: The wonderful team at Clallam Ready has created a 'quiz' for our community members. How ready are you? Click the link below and find out!
https://www.bellelealand.net/_files/ugd/93ebf6_20a8f2998961407285723b0dd0045b5b.pdf

05/24/2026

This is a Cindy Zechenelly appreciation post! Anyone who has inquired about CERT, taken a CERT academy class, or attended a CERT community event has met Cindy.

On May 19, Cindy received a lifetime achievement citation in recognition of her incredible gifts of time and talent to the greater Sequim area.

Below is an excerpt from the proclamation, read by Clallam County Fire District 3 Chief Justin Grider:

"The purpose of this award is to honor the extraordinary service of a volunteer who has made a lasting, positive difference in our community. That extraordinary volunteer is Cindy Zechenelly.

Ten years ago in the summer of 2016, Blaine and Cindy Zechenelly, working together, created a new program within Fire District 3 that was designed to organize, train, equip and maintain a readily deployable cadre of highly trained citizen volunteers who would be able to safely augment local First-Responders.

"...The CERT program relies on the willingness of citizen volunteers to serve their fellow neighbors in need, without any pay or compensation. Cindy Zechenelly's selfless leadership has supported this highly cost-effective program that materially augments Clallam's professional responders during an emergency. Her indefatigable volunteerism exemplifies the true strength of our community. It is therefore our honor and pleasure acknowledge Cindy today for all she has accomplished throughout these past ten years."

05/21/2026

CERT Tip Thursday (because we missed Tuesday this week 😅): Safely storing documents is key to any disaster plan. Natural disasters can wreak havoc, including damage to personal papers, family valuables, or items related to your family and property.

Here's a good "3-2-1" backup rule:
- One physical copy in a portable fireproof/waterproof safe
- One digital copy in secure cloud storage (like Dropbox)
- One copy on an encrypted flash drive stored off-site

What should you have? Among other items specific to each person, document storage should include:
- Household information (IDs, pet microchip ID, social security cards, passwords to phones/computers)
- Medical information for everyone in your home (insurance info, medication lists, physician numbers)
- Pics of valuables (jewelry, electronics, photos of your home inside and out)

That's a LOT of information, so take a few minutes every week to gather all these documents instead of trying to do it all at once!

There's so much more to be learned with the Prepare in a Year booklet, available in print and online:

Welcome to Clallam County's Prepare in a Year Project. This program was designed to help households become personally prepared. There are 12 projects to be completed. Each project was created to be easy to do, inexpensive and should only take about an hour to complete.

05/17/2026

CERT volunteers show up at nearly every major event in the greater Sequim area. Why? It's simple: The more messages of preparedness we can share with community members, the better chance we all have of safety getting through a major disaster From fires at home to earthquake damage across the Olympic Peninsula, we want YOU to be prepared. So stop by our booth, or say howdy to a parking volunteer, and learn more about CERT's efforts. Our motto is "Do the greatest good for the greatest number," and together, we can make that happen!

05/14/2026

DYK? Local community radio station KSQM 91.5 FM Community Radio is a big supporter of CERT, and Jim Emett (aka Papa Jim) hosts a radio segment that talks all about our fabulous program! Jim is also a CERT volunteer, instructor, training committee member, and all-around awesome guy to know. This week, we'll have Jolene Sandborn on the show to discuss ways CERT can help the community's residents and professional EMS in the event of a major disaster. (Photo of Jim, past guests in studio) Tune in to 91.1 FM at 12 p.m., or stream live at https://ksqmfm.com/!

05/12/2026

CERT Tip Tuesday: CERT Tip Tuesday: Have an out-of-area contact! Why? (a list) Overloaded Local Networks: When disaster strikes, high call volume jams local lines, but long-distance calls can often get through.
Centralized Information Hub: Family members can all contact the same person to check in on others and relay messages, preventing the need for multiple, impossible, local calls.
Safety Outside the Impact Zone: Choosing someone at least 100 miles away ensures they are likely unaffected by the same emergency, such as a major earthquake or storm.
Efficient Communication: It simplifies reunification by providing a single point of contact for tracking down family members AND - rememer that while phone calls might not go through, texting often does! Make a small laminated card everyone in the family can carry with them (the stress of an emergency often makes us confused and simple tasks, like remembering phone numbers, can be very difficult)

05/09/2026

Mother's Day is tomorrow, and the best gift you could get her is your well-being! Are you and your family prepared in the event of a disaster, be it earthquake, fire, or flood? Check out the CERT website for a complete list of resources to be ready for anything! And happy Mother's Day to all the moms and mom-figures in our lives!

Privacy:This website does not collect any app user personal information. It does collect information related to search and rescue operations such as GPS locations, addresses, and photographs