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CERT Basic Training

CERT Basic Training covers basic skills that are important to know in a disaster when emergency services are not available. With training and practice, and by working as a team, you will be able to protect yourself and maximize your capability to help for the greatest number of people after a disaster.

There are 9 core units to CERT trainings.

CERT Basic Unit 1: Disaster Preparedness

In this unit, you will learn about:

  • Roles and Responsibilities for Community Preparedness: How everyone in a community has a role in disaster preparedness.
  • Role of CERTs: CERT organization, disaster and non-disaster roles, and laws that protect disaster workers from liability.
  • Elements of Disasters and Their Impact on Infrastructure: The potential effects of extreme emergencies and disasters on electrical service; emergency services; telephone communication; transportation; and availability of food, water, shelter, and fuel.
  • Personal and Organizational Preparedness: How you can prepare in advance to improve the quality of your survival and to reduce the damage from hazards

CERT Unit 2: CERT Organization

In this unit, you will learn about:

  • CERT Organization: How to organize and deploy
  • CERT resources according to CERT organizational principles.
  • CERT Size-up: How to conduct the continual data-gathering and evaluation process at the scene of a disaster or emergency. Rescuer Safety: How to protect your own safety and your buddy’s during search and rescue.
  • Documentation: Strategies for documenting situation and resource status.

CERT Units 3 and 4: Disaster Medical Operations – Part 1 and Part 2

In this unit, you will learn about:

  • Assisting Disaster Medical Operations: How to assist by controlling bleeding, maintaining normal body temperature, and more.
  • Mass Casualty Incidents: How to assist first responders in responding to mass casualty incidents.
  • Functions of Disaster Medical Operations: Major functions of disaster medical operations.
  • Disaster Medical Treatment Areas: Types of medical treatment areas. Head-to-To Assessment: How to perform a head-to-toe assessment to identify and treat injuries.
  • Public Health Considerations: How to maintain hygiene and sanitation.

CERT Unit 5: Disaster Psychology

In this unit, you will learn about:

  • Disaster Psychology: The psychological impact a disaster has on rescuers and survivors, and lessons on providing components of “psychological first aid.”
  • Caring for Yourself and Survivors: Steps volunteers can take individually and as part of a CERT before, following, and after a disaster.

CERT Unit 6: Fire Safety and Utility Controls

In this unit, you will learn about:

  • Fire Chemistry: How fire occurs, classes of fire, and choosing the correct means to extinguish each type of fire.
  • Fire Size-up Considerations: How to evaluate fires, assess firefighting resources and determine a course of action.
  • Portable Fire Extinguishers: How to identify types of portable fire extinguishers and how to operate them.
  • Fire Suppression Safety: How to decide if you should attempt to extinguish a fire; how to approach and extinguish a fire safely.
  • Fire and Utility Hazards: How to identify potential fire and utility hazards in the home and workplace; how to implement successful fire prevention strategies.

CERT Unit 7: Light Search and Rescue Operations

In this unit, you will learn about:

  • Search and Rescue Size-up: How to size up the situation in which the search and rescue teams will operate.
  • Conducting Interior and Exterior Search Operations: How to search systematically for disaster survivors.
  • Conducting Rescue Operations: Safe techniques for lifting, leveraging, cribbing, and survivor removal.

CERT Unit 8: Terrorism and CERT

In this unit, you will learn about:

  • Terrorism: Defining terrorism, including the goals and tactics of some terrorist groups, and detailing how to respond when an active shooter is in your vicinity.
  • Eight Signs of Terrorism: The eight signs of terrorism and how to report suspicious activity.
  • Preparing for Your Neighborhood: Steps to take to be prepared at home, work, and in your neighborhood.
  • Hazardous Materials (HazMat) and Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives (CBRNe): Identifying some basic guidelines during a Hazmat or CBRNE event.

CERT Unit 9: Course Review, Final Exam and Disaster Simulation

This unit includes:

  • A review of the key points from the course
  • A final exam
  • A final exercise