By David L. Dye
The Herald
GROVE CITY, Pa. — If disaster strikes, a group of local citizens will soon be able to help answer the call.
A new class being offered this fall by Western Pennsylvania CERT, or Community Emergency Response Team, will allow regular people to get the training they need to assist first responders during an emergency, said Marcus Kohan, CERT program manager.
The setup would be similar to a volunteer fire department. Participants will have national certification, and the insight they need to be a valuable and legal part of a coordinated community rescue effort.
“A lot of people don’t know what CERT is,” Kohan said. “We’re starting small, but the community will know we are out there.”
CERT members can be trained to respond to natural events such as floods or tornadoes as well as man-made disasters such as chemical spills or terrorist attacks. When a major incident develops, Kohan said, emergency responders might not be able to reach all the rescue workers they need right away.
That is where CERT comes in, he said.
“We will not be as highly trained as a firefighter or a medic, but you get the basics so you can work hand-in-hand with responders, and they can trust your training,” Kohan said.
Volunteers attended a meeting Monday evening at the American Legion Post 584 in Mercer to learn what CERT does and how to become a member.
To join, volunteers must pay a $25 administrative fee and become a member of Western Pennsylvania CERT to be insured. Without that insurance, volunteers who arrive at the scene of an emergency have to be turned away by first responders, Kohan said.
“Everything changed after 9/11,” Kohan said. “Because of trial attorneys and liability, we can’t have untrained volunteers.”
And even if Mercer County is not hit by a disaster, the wide range of skills offered through CERT training, which is accredited by FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security, makes CERT volunteers useful anywhere, Kohan said.
Among those interested in CERT was Barkeyville Public Safety Director Warren Whetzel, who said CERT could be useful for smaller communities such as his.
“Our borough is only three square miles, but we have the tank farm in our own back yard,” Whetzel said, referring to the Heath Tank Farm.
Over the past 30 years, the tank farm has only experienced a garage fire and one tank explosion, but there is also the matter of nearby state Route 8 and I-80, which see a large amount of semi-truck traffic with the potential for chemical spills, he said.
“It’s not if it happens, it’s when,” Whetzel said.
Within CERT are divisions people can join based on their specialty, including fire training, volunteer law enforcement, K-9, EMS and communications. Wes Notovitz, director of CERT’s search and rescue division, attended the training with his partner, German shepherd, Ziva.
“CERT could call on the K-9 for missing people or help law enforcement in manhunts, among other things,” Notovitz said.
CERT’s K-9 division could have up to six dogs, which in this area could help with the large number of missing people reported, CERT Deputy Director Brian Julian said.
“We’ve had veterans who run into the woods, missing kids, or people walking off of a scene,” Julian said.
For people who are more technology-minded, there are opportunities to assist with coordinating emergency services and powering communication systems, CERT emergency communications director Roy Scharf said.
“Part of it is getting the proper radios,” Scharf said. “The cost of long-range radios is relatively high, so people don’t have a lot of those.”
It is not too late to sign up for the training, Kohan said.
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