By Andrew Brophy
Connecticut Post Online
Copyright 2007 MediaNews Group, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
FAIRFIELD, Conn. — Norma Peterson traces her interest in being prepared for disasters to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
“I had one son who had just left New York City, the Wall Street area, and one son living in Boston, both of which seemed like likely targets,” Peterson said. “I felt that, rather than be concerned and do nothing, I’d step up to the plate and work on citizen emergency preparedness.”
Daphne Dixon, who lost a friend in the hijacked airplane that crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, also cites that day as a reason she became interested in disaster preparedness.
“It fills you with such strong emotion and such power, you have to do something with that energy. It’s so strong for the people who lost somebody, you just want that power to be all good,” Dixon said.
Keene Harkrader traces his interest in preparing for disasters to Hurricane Charley, which roared through Florida two years ago.
Harkrader’s sister-in-law and her husband, who lived in Punta Gorda, Fla., had to evacuate their home in 15 minutes and lived without power and water after they returned.
Harkrader and his wife, Nina, couldn’t get in touch with their relatives for three or four days.
“It occurred to us that living in a condo complex, we were pretty much unprepared for a natural disaster or crisis,” Harkrader said. “We didn’t even have a portable radio. We would have to sit in the car to find out what was going on.”
Today, Peterson, Dixon and the Harkraders are four of the 15 residents on Fairfield’s first Community Emergency Response Team.
CERT, which falls under the umbrella of the Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, is a group of volunteers who respond to natural and man-made disasters to assist firefighters, police officers, paramedics and the American Red Cross.
Towns and cities are not required to have CERTs, but they exist in all 50 states. Twenty-four CERTs are in Connecticut, and the ones in the region include Fairfield, Westport, Wilton and Orange.
The 15 residents on Fairfield’s CERT underwent training every Saturday for two months at the Fire Training Academy on One Rod Highway.
The training, led by former Fire Marshal Harry Ackley, covered light search-and-rescues; triage medical evaluation and care; disaster psychology; setting up shelters for residents and pets; fire suppression; hazardous materials; and how to turn off utilities.
“The CERT training was quite comprehensive, and it covers all kinds of things in terms of being able to assist the first responders,” Keene Harkrader said.
On Saturday, the CERT went through a daylong class at the Fire Training Academy that covered first aid, CPR and automatic external defibrillators.
CERT members may take additional classes in crowd control and traffic management, Peterson said.
“It’s really important to remember our function is a support function and we operate to support the professional responders at their direction,” Peterson said.
Fire Chief Richard Felner, the town’s emergency management director, would activate the local CERT in an emergency and direct CERT members to a specific location, where they would receive instructions from the incident commander, Peterson said.
The first CERT member to arrive would report to the incident commander and then become the commander for the CERT team, Peterson said.
“The different members of the team could have different roles to play in supporting the professional responders, but we would always work in teams of two, preferably three,” Peterson said.
Felner could activate the CERT by telephone, e-mail or a local radio station that announces information during a disaster, Peterson said.
Deputy Fire Chief Art Reid said the CERT was a valuable supplement to first responders. He said the work CERT members would do depends on the nature of the disaster but helping set up emergency shelters for people and their pets was one example.
The Red Cross doesn’t allow pets in emergency shelters, and many residents won’t leave their homes without pets, so CERT members took a class in setting up a pet shelter from Animal Control Officer Paul Miller, Peterson said.
CERT members who live in neighborhoods affected by disasters also can gather valuable information before professional emergency responders arrive, such as identities of people who fled from a house fire and whether any of their family members are still inside, Peterson said.
The local CERT plans to be active when there is not an emergency by keeping up-to-date on training and by visiting neighborhood block parties to spread the word about preparing for natural and man-made disasters.
Harkrader said one of the keys to being prepared is to have three days’ worth of food, water and other necessities because, if the disaster is big enough, emergency responders won’t be able to get to every resident quickly.
“Most people think the Fire Department, Police Department and Red Cross will be able to come and help them almost immediately,” Harkrader said. “That’s physically impossible because there are too many people and too few first responders.”
“You need to be able to fend for yourself for at least 72 hours because the first responders won’t be able to get to you,” he said.
Dixon said residents should keep copies of important financial and personal records in one spot, so they can quickly grab the paperwork if they have to leave their house in an emergency.
People also shouldn’t let their cars’ gas tanks reach near empty, just in case they need to drive somewhere in a hurry, Dixon said.
Dixon said CERT training helped her become more self-reliant, which she wanted to do after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“It occurred to me, as I’m sure it occurred to most people on that day, that we’re all vulnerable. That feeling of helplessness is horrific,” Dixon said. “So whatever you can do to learn how to cope with whatever life throws at you, I think people should take advantage of that.”
“You can help others, but you have to be able to help yourself first to be able to help others.”
Peterson said preparing for a disaster isn’t hard and once residents have an emergency kit, they will always have it.
While disasters may seem unlikely in Fairfield, Harkrader pointed to the truck fire that melted part of an Interstate 95 bridge in Bridgeport a few years ago. That accident could have involved a chemical spill that forced people to evacuate to an emergency shelter, Harkrader said.
Disasters also can strike when residents are on vacation or visiting friends, and people ought to know basic life-saving and disaster-management skills to keep them safe until professional first responders reach them, Dixon said.
Dixon, president of Fairfield’s CERT, said its 15 inaugural members are “a very dedicated group of people” and that the local CERT is always looking for new members.
For information on Fairfield’s CERT, e-mail Dixon at daphnedixon@mac.com.