Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program educates people about emergencies and disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their families and their community and trains them in basic disaster response skills such as fire safety, light search and rescue operations, team organization, and disaster medical operations. CERT provides training and organizational tools for community members to support first responders, provide immediate assistsance to victims and organize spontaneous volunteers during widespread emergencies. CERT's are known to also help in the community with non-emergency projects that improve the safety of the community.
Our vision is to enhance volunteer capacity throughout the city/county of El Paso by emphasizing citizen volunteer team continuous recruitment.
CERT volunteers encourage active roles within the community through training, exercise, education and outreach.
CERT provides a well-rounded approach in supporting our nation's fire and emergency services, while offering citizens more opportunities than ever before to play a role in emergency preparedness. Through these efforts, communities across the nation are becoming safer, stronger, and better prepared.
They help to mobilize the nation to work together to mitigate the risks posed by natural disasters.
To build stronger communities. By working together, they can help overcome these challenges. This comprehensive program benefits both the Office of Emergency Management and the El Paso Fire Department.
"In the quiet hours when we are alone and there is nobody to tell us what fine fellows we are, we come sometimes upon a moment in which we wonder, not how much money we are earning, nor how famous we have become, but what good we are doing."
-A.A. Milne
To be a CERT volunteer you must:
-Be over the age of 18
-Have successfully completed the 20-hour training program
-Have completed the El Paso Fire Department volunteer orientation
-Participate in on-going training, education, and recertification
-Be registered with the Texas Volunteer Disaster Registry (TVDR)
-Comply with CERT standard operating procedures and guidelines
Ready El Paso Committee:
Chair
Mr. Antonio Cassagnol
[email protected]
[email protected]
Vice Chair
Ms. Adriana Mendoza
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Secretary
Ms. Rosa Thibodeau
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Sub-Committee Chairs
CERT TEAM-Coordination
Mr. Jose Barriga
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Training and Education
Ms. Carmen Carrion
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Special Projects and Events Planning
Mr. Clayton Ham
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Public Information and Outreach
Mr. Ernesto Robali
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Mission: The mission of the Ready El Paso Initiative is to continue to carry over the ability to harness the power of every individual through education, training and volunteer service to make our community safer, stronger and better prepared to respond to emergencies/disasters of all kinds.
