Limited Signups for Free Emergency Team Training Available

Help myself. Help my family. Help my neighbors. Help my town.

Did you have and execute a plan for safety, shelter, medical needs, communication, food, and other consumables during our most recent storms? How were you prepared for a power outage, gasoline shortage, blocked roads, and no well-water access. Learn how to survive the first 72-hours of an emergency by taking the free CERT training offered by our Somerset County Office of Emergency Management (OEM).

The Warren Township “Community Emergency Response Team” (CERT) is looking for volunteers to join our team! Starting Jan. 15th, the Somerset County OEM is offering a free CERT course to the first 50 Somerset County residents who register. The CERT training program educates people about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their community. This includes basic disaster response skills such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations. CERT training teaches basic skills to enable you to help you and your family, your neighbors and your town during emergencies, and is an outstanding way to give back to your community.  

In helping your family and your neighbors, you reduce the stress on the Police, Fire and Rescue Squad in times of emergency by lessening potential calls for help, and if the situation warrants it, the CERT team will be called on to assist those agencies.

Over the last 2 years, CERT members helped staff the Emergency Operations Center during all four storms, opened and ran the county Red Cross shelter at Watchung Hills High School during Hurricane Irene, opened and staffed the town shelter at Stonecrest Community Church, staffed the warming centers during both Halloween Nor’easter storms and Super Storm Sandy.

CERT is also a great introduction into the Warren Township First Responder community, and has been an initial step in volunteers eventually joining the Warren Township Fire Department, Fire Police, and Rescue Squad.

Registration is only available to the first 50 county residents and are filling up quickly--Forms are due by Friday, Jan. 11th; www.co.somerset.nj.us/spotlight.html

TRAINING LOCATION: Somerset County Emergency Services Training Academy at 402 Roycefield Road, Hillsborough N.J. 08844

TRAINING DATES: 7 p.m.-10 p.m. on Jan. 15, 17, 22, 24 and 29. 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 19

WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?

• Students who complete all modules will receive a CERT certificate of completion
• Better understand the potential threats to their home and community
• More effectively create and execute a plan to keep yourself, your family, and your neighbors safe.

For more information about the CERT training program or to receive a registration form, contact the County CERT Coordinator Tony DeMatteo, Somerset County Office of Emergency Management, at (908) 725-5070 or  dematteo@co.somerset.nj.us.    

After registering,  contact Warren CERT Captain Heston Allocco at hesallocco@optonline.net.