Fire Chief Randy Corbin introduced 14 people at the Aug. 26 City Council meeting, saying, “Here’s a group of citizens … hopefully you’ll never see them.”

They’re the recently certified Civilian Emergency Response Team graduates, and they’re Wylie citizens who are willing to roll up their sleeves in the event of a large-scale emergency. Their all-volunteer, nine-week training session has qualified them to act as first responders in times of crisis, a situation city officials hope will never happen, but for which the community is better prepared now that these men and women have become certified.

According to Fire Marshal Steve Seddig, program director and deputy emergency manager for the city, the CERT concept was developed by the Los Angeles City Fire Department in 1985. When the Whittier Narrows earthquake occurred in 1987, this newly created organization of trained community responders “filled a very real gap” in California professional first responders’ ability to provide service.

“The cornerstone of a CERT program is citizen all-hazard disaster preparedness,” Seddig said. “The individuals who attend CERT training learn how to prepare for a disaster, and those that choose can assist or augment professional first responders by providing assistance to their neighborhoods, helping to organize untrained volunteers, and providing real-time disaster assessments for the Wylie Emergency Operations Center.”

WEOC is an area of city hall dedicated to managing a large-scale incident.

This is the first class of CERT graduates; they will assist in future training as the program grows, Seddig said. Group members are Kristin Sands, Peggy Dooley, Kimberly Weems, Marlene Baptiste, Chris Larson, Lauren Perry, Meshach Baptiste, Paul Curtis, Jack Rickert, Donald Ables, Mike Dooley, Dennis Gibbons and Stephen Gilbert.

Training topics included managing utilities on affected properties and putting out small fires; treating victims for “the three medical killers” by opening airways, controlling bleeding and treating for shock; providing basic medical aid; searching for and rescuing victims safely; organizing themselves and spontaneous volunteers to be effective; and collecting disaster information to provide to first responders when they arrive on the scene.
These volunteers appeared on the Wylie Fire-Rescue radar in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina forced thousands to flee their homes on the ravaged Gulf coast. According to Seddig, over 800 Wylie residents signed up to assist with incoming evacuees. The armory was “running full scale,” he said, and a donations center was set up in the vacant Wylie Supermarket building. The volunteers’ names were recorded, and, when the city decided to move forward with CERT training, likely names were selected, contacted and invited to attend a “meet-and-greet.” Fifteen individuals signed up; 14 completed the training. “They’re our conduit to train folks,” Seddig said. “They’ll help us control the situation a little better.”

The process took nine weeks; they met for four hours once a week. At the conclusion of the course, there was “Disaster Day” when the volunteers put their training to the test. A helicopter landed, there was a mock tornado on a campground, a triage was set up, there were 12 injured “victims,” and two fires that CERT volunteers put out. There was also an exercise in “cribbing,” or shoring up a heavy object, in this case a dumpster, that had fallen on a victim – a dummy on Disaster Day. Pieces of wood are inserted bit by bit until the trapped person can be safely moved.

Recent weather conditions motivated several of the team to take even more training in McKinney. As all eyes turned to Hurricanes Gustav and Hanna, with Ike following close behind, shelter management training was offered by the Red Cross in case local assistance was needed.

Don Ables was one of the CERT members who took the training. He said the course, which is usually spread out over several days, was offered in an intensive, one-day “boot camp” in which he participated.

“We were trained in what to expect and how to deal with registration, dormitories, activities, food – various areas in which to work in a shelter,” Ables said.

Ables, an active member of the Lions Club, said there is a disaster-relief group called Lions Alert, for which he is district chair. He said he has always been willing to assist local firefighters and other rescue personnel when catastrophes such as hurricanes and tornadoes strike, but was often “tied to the phone” because of his job as a catastrophe adjustor with an insurance company. Now, however, Ables has his own independent company and has more freedom to give back to the community.
He said now that he knows the “official Red Cross rules” about assisting in catastrophic situations, he’s urging his fellow Lions to get involved.

Ables said, however, that large-scale emergencies aren’t the only events at which the CERT volunteers can be of assistance; they expect to help direct traffic at concerts or other large gatherings and also to help firefighters by providing water and other provisions at fires.

“We’re here to provide whatever they need,” he said.

Other Wylie CERT personnel include Debbie Buccino, associate director, and Dennis Gibbons, volunteer coordinator. All participants have elected to be classified as CERT of Wylie Responders; that means they will have regular continuing education, including FEMA-sponsored courses dealing with managing crowds not only at catastrophes, but also parades and sporting events as well as American Heart Association courses in CPR and first aid.

The next Wylie CERT class will be in June 2009; interested volunteers should contact Seddig in January of 2009.

Seddig said he feels more secure about the community and its preparedness to face disasters.

“We’re ahead of the game now,” he said.