Public Safety

Volunteer Emergency Response Teams Practice Skills

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In the event of a disaster, firefighters and paramedics can’t be everywhere immediately. But there are people who will know what to do until emergency responders arrive. They are community members, perhaps even your neighbors, who want to serve their community by learning basic emergency skills that will help themselves, their families, and others in a crisis.

They are taught skills such as putting out small fires and even basic search and rescue from emergency responders and receive certification. Community teams meet on their own time for skill refresher training and twice a year, they gather with other community teams to train together.

On Saturday, more than 120 trained volunteers of Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) from throughout San Diego County gathered for a six-hour exercise. CERT members tested their skills at six stations that focused on team building, medical treatment and triage, Incident Command System, small fire suppression, stabilization and extrication of patients, and search and rescue. 

For the team building exercise, the team members were paired up with another person and they were both blindfolded and led through an obstacle course by a third non-blindfolded team member, said DeMarco. At other stations, teams had to find, rescue and assess volunteer victims wearing gory-looking makeup to simulate injuries. 

“This was a dig down to basics for CERT members with really quality instructors from different communities coming in to teach emergency skills,” said San Diego Fire-Rescue Fire Department CERT program coordinator Carie DeMarco, who organized the countywide training event.

The San Diego County Office of Emergency Services helped DeMarco run the event at the San Diego Fire-Rescue Training Facility.

San Diego County has 32 CERT programs with more than 4,000 volunteers. DeMarco said the twice annual countywide trainings are invaluable for CERT programs because they provide the opportunity to do regular refresher trainings with members. Additionally, the training gives CERT members from different communities an opportunity to work together and learn from each other in addition to the instructors.

Among those participating in Saturday’s exercise were teams from San Diego, San Miguel, San Marcos, Lakeside, Poway, Carlsbad, Encinitas, Rancho Santa Fe, Coronado, National City, Vista, Escondido, Solana Beach, Deer Springs, Del Mar and Oceanside.  

Two countywide exercises are planned every year in addition to each community team’s training schedule. All curriculum comes from the FEMA Basic CERT Guidelines. The Community Emergency Response Team program provides disaster preparedness training to volunteers on topics that include fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations. CERT members must undergo 20 hours of training to receive certification, and purchase personal protective equipment to participate.

To find out more about the program and to see if there are any opportunities to join in your community, visit the County’s CERT page.

Yvette Urrea Moe is a communications specialist with the County of San Diego Communications Office. Contact