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C.E.R.T. Information

BYU Community Emergency Response Team

Request C.E.R.T. training


Non-Credit Course Offering:

The Risk Management and Safety Division conducts Community Emergency Response Team (C.E.R.T.) courses during Fall and Winter Semesters. This course prepares participants to assist in most significant disaster response areas (see background information and course outline below). The course will require two and one-half hours per week for nine weeks beginning the third week of Fall and Winter Semesters. It is open to the first 30 who register. The University covers the cost for course materials.

If you desire to enroll, or you wish someone from your department to receive this training, please call Kerry Baum, ext. 8-8142, or complete the enclosed registration form and return it to 101 TOMH.

C.E.R.T. at BYU:

Many BYU departments have recognized the benefits of C.E.R.T. training and are helping to provide trainers, and support the participation of staff members. BYU has provided C.E.R.T. training to over 400 individuals to date. This training has greatly improved the University's ability to respond to a major disaster on campus.

BYU has a core of individuals who volunteered to attend FEMA sponsored instructor training. These individuals, who are now certified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as C.E.R.T. Trainers, have conducted recent courses and will conduct future courses for BYU.

The C.E.R.T. class is now open to the all employees who have expressed an interest in receiving the training. BYU's qualified instructors have volunteered their services to teach additional sessions to all interested employees and/or students.

Community Emergency Response Team (C.E.R.T.) origins:

The concept for training grew out of the Mexico City earthquake in which untrained volunteers who were willing to undertake rescue and life saving steps in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake saved over 800 people. However, over 100 of these volunteer rescuers lost their lives because they did not have sufficient training to accomplish everything they were attempting.

California authorities, visiting Mexico City after the earthquake, saw the potential of having a core of trained volunteers who could respond (without direction) in natural or man-made disasters and save lives while government and other disaster response agencies mobilized an organized response. As of 1993, over 8,000 individuals and 225 teams had been trained in Southern California. The concept proved a great success in saving lives and preserving property following the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

In 1994 The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) adopted the program and has started promoting the concept with standardized training nation-wide. FEMA still bases the program on volunteers, but by standardizing the training they feel they can insure a consistent level of training and performance nationwide. Standardized training allows volunteer emergency organizations and government officials from any jurisdiction to be familiar with capabilities and limitations and how to effectively communicate missions to C.E.R.T. members/volunteers from other jurisdictions. The program is essentially unfunded (FEMA does provide some training materials and national certification).

Utah was one of the first states to adopt the FEMA sponsored C.E.R.T. program with Salt Lake City and West Valley City being the Utah cities which have been most aggressive in training qualified C.E.R.T. trainers and teams. The State of Utah Division of Emergency Services and Homeland Security (DES) provides all necessary funds to train individuals as C.E.R.T. trainers as long as they represent significant public or private organizations within Utah and agree to support the training of C.E.R.T. members within their communities.

President Bush has now included C.E.R.T. volunteers in the new Citizen Corps and as part of the overall Homeland Security Team.

The C.E.R.T. Training Program:

C.E.R.T. training consists of a nine week (one class per week) series of two and one-half hour classes designed to prepare each participant to appropriately respond to the types of emergencies normally encountered in disaster situations. Classes taught during each week of the course are as follows:

  1. Class one: Individual and Family Preparedness. Objectives include:
    1. Describe the types of hazards that are most likely to affect your homes and community.
    2. Describe the functions of C.E.R.T.s and their role in immediate response
    3. Identify steps to prepare yourself and your family for a disaster.
  2. Class two: Disaster Fire Suppression. Objectives include:
    1. Explain the role of a C.E.R.T. in fire suppression.
    2. Identify and reduce potential fire risks in the home and workplace.
    3. Conduct a basic size-up for a fire emergency.
    4. Operate portable fire extinguishers correctly.
    5. Understand minimum safety precautions, including safety equipment, utility control, buddy system, and back-up teams.
  3. Class three: Disaster Medical Operations - Part I. Objectives include:
    1. Identify the "killers."
    2. Apply techniques for opening airways, controlling bleeding, and treating for shock.
    3. Conduct triage under simulated disaster conditions.
  4. Class four: Disaster Medical Operations - Part II. Objectives include:
    1. Perform head-to-toe patient assessments
    2. Select and set up a treatment area.
    3. Employ appropriate care for wounds.
    4. Identify appropriate measures to maintain the public health.
  5. Class five: Light Search and Rescue Operations. Objectives include:
    1. Identify planning and size-up requirements for potential search and rescue operations.
    2. Describe the most common techniques for searching a structure.
    3. Use safe techniques for debris removal and victim extraction.
    4. Describe ways to protect rescuers during search and rescue operations
  6. Class six: Disaster Psychology and Team Organization. Objectives include:
    1. Describe the post-disaster emotional environment and the steps that rescuers can take to relieve their own stressors and those of disaster victims.
    2. Describe C.E.R.T. organization and documentation requirements
  7. Class seven: Disaster Simulation. During this session participants will be able to apply all the skills and knowledge developed through the first six sessions.
  8. Class eight: Post-Seismic Building Evaluation. This session will help participants to conduct post-earthquake safety evaluations of most types of buildings normally found in the United States.
  9. Class nine: Graduation. Students will be recognized for successful completion of the C.E.R.T. program at BYU.
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