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CERT
Special eBrief

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This Community Emergency Response Te4am (CERT) eBrief is provided by FEMA's Individual & Community Preparedness Division to highlight community preparedness and resilience resources and activities recently announced by federal agencies and CERT partners.

CERT - Commuinity Emergency Response Team - Special eBrief

Be heard…Send comments or suggestions to us. Read how to do so here: CERT

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CERT Class Conducted for Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Deaf-blind State Government Employees

Innovative CERT training for deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind individuals in Washington state expands the role of these community members for preparedness activities.

Existing Challenges to Preparedness Training
The level of community preparedness is the bedrock of an effective response in a disaster. Every segment of society must be encouraged and empowered with the information it needs to prepare for the inevitable impacts of future disasters. Too often, preparedness trainings are only available to the community in an inaccessible fire station; only offered in the evening when public and para transportation lines are limited; or delivered by smaller communities where funding American Sign Language interpreters is not within the budget.

Emergency Managers need to shift the paradigm and start addressing the diversity of their communities as the norm, and not as a special class or event. They need to provide access and equal opportunity to information to allow all community members to empower themselves, prepare their families, and assist their neighbors. The primary role of CERT is to do exactly this; expand the role of our community members.

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Recent Developments to Tempe CERT

Tempe CERT has recently worked on multiple large-scale initiatives while continuing to perform more routine preparedness activities. In the past year, Tempe CERT has assisted with local smoke detector installations and fire extinguisher trainings. Additionally, they have worked closely with Phoenix CERT, providing backup medical assistance for the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon.

Tempe CERT Overview
For the past four years, Mr. Ernie Paquette and Ms. Dawn Hermanson have been co-leads of the Tempe Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) in Arizona, which is overseen by the Tempe Fire Medical Rescue Personnel/ Professional Development section. Tempe CERT partners with the Scottsdale Emergency Manager to provide the basic CERT classroom instruction at least twice a year. Members of the Tempe CERT

Recent Activities
Tempe CERT has been very active recently; working on multiple large-scale initiatives and continuing to perform their more routine preparedness activities. For example, Tempe CERT has developed a strategic plan and completed an important project to map members to their closest cross streets and fire stations. In addition, they have established several important agreements with community partners, including the local Amateur Radio Repeater Trustee.

Twice a year, Tempe CERT assists the Arizona Burn Center, the American Red Cross, and the Tempe Fire Medical Rescue with smoke detector installations. This includes the setup of the HAM radio Network Control System (Net Control) to help manage communications traffic during the smoke detector installation effort. In addition, they assist the Tempe Fire Medical Department annually with Fire Safety Day, handing out relevant documentation and demonstrating fire extinguisher use (in most cases to children). Moreover, they perform fire extinguisher training at businesses in coordination with the Tempe Fire Medical Rescue Public Training Officer.

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New FEMA Citizen Responder Registration Site

Thanks to an updated registration site, it is now easier than ever for Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) programs and Citizen Corps Councils to register and manage their programs!

Log on now to the new Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Citizen Responder Registration site to explore the updates. If you were registered on the old site, you can use the same login email to create a new password.

While the design and layout are different, the new site maintains many of the key features of the old site. This new design, however, will make it easier and more intuitive to register and update programs. For example, the button to register a new program is now located front and center on the page.

Moving forward, FEMA plans to continuously add new features to the site. These include enabling you to download reports about your program and posting an annual report on the progress of your CERT.

Visit https://community.fema.gov/Register today to view the updated registration site! For questions on the site, contact FEMA-Prepare@fema.dhs.gov.

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Disclaimer: The reader recognizes that the federal government provides links and informational data on various disaster preparedness resources and events and does not endorse any non-federal events, entities, organizations, services or products. Please let us know about other events and services for individual and community preparedness that could be included in future newsletters by contacting: FEMA-prepare@fema.dhs.gov

About CERT

The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program educates volunteers about disaster preparedness for the hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations. CERT offers a consistent, nationwide approach to volunteer training and organization that professional responders can rely on during disaster situations, which allows them to focus on more complex tasks. Through CERT, the capabilities to prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters is built and enhanced.

Follow CERT online at www.ready.gov/community-emergency-response-team

The social media links provided are for reference only. CERT does not endorse any non-government websites, companies or applications.

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