City's first CERT in place
The city's first Community Emergency Response Team was recognized during the Dec. 12 City Council meeting.
"The whole idea behind this is with 12 fire fighters on duty in 24 hours people can imagine how innodated we're going to be with the big one hits," said Upland Fire Captain Karl Hegle. "It's going to be rough and these are the folks that are going to be there. They are the ones that are going to come to the door and tell you you need to get out of this house because it's dangerous."
The free program gives volunteers basic training in fire fighting, search and rescue, triage, hazard mitigation as well as consequences of terrorism attacks.
The members have competed their 20 hours of training.
"They bring professional skills along with them, they bring basic medical skills along with them and what we teach is we teach to first protect yourself, then your family, then your home and then your neighbor's home and branch out that way," Hegle said.
There are 60 people are the waiting list to become CERT members, Hegle said.
As their first task, the crew was placed on stand by during the high winds earlier this month.
Some members were called out to a neighborhood where the wind knocked down power lines.
"We were able to mobilize at least three CERT members to show up and help us deny entry," Hegle said. "We had people who wanted to get close to the wires. We were able to actually block the people from coming in and that allowed us to do the job without tying up any more apparatuses. We knew this event could have gotten a lot worse."
Volunteers are still needed.
To sign up or for more information email Hegle at khegle@ci.upland.ca.us
