Copyright 2006 Marin Independent Journal, a MediaNews Group publication
All Rights Reserved
By JIM STAATS
Marin Independent Journal (California)
Sofi Setrakian was having a hectic Saturday morning.
Moments after being lowered to safety on a ladder, the 17-year-old Bolinas resident was operating the “jaws of life” to cut away a sizable chunk of a crushed Honda - and enjoying it.
“Today is really fun,” said Setrakian, a junior at Tamalpais High School.
She was one of 40 high school students receiving hands-on emergency response training as part of a pilot program operated by several southern Marin fire departments and the Marin County Office of Education.
Saturday’s series of real-life exercises at Southern Marin Fire Protection District station No. 4 in Mill Valley was part of a 10-hour, two-day teen Community Emergency Response Training, or CERT, initiative to develop community awareness in youth.
Earthquake concerns brought to the forefront by the 1906 earthquake centennial, Hurricane Katrina and the Dec. 31 Ross Valley flood have focused attention on emergency training programs for residents in the region. Program enrollment and community offerings are both on the rise.
“After all the natural disasters that have happened, it puts everyone on their toes,” Setrakian said. “During a disaster, the firefighters might not be able to help everyone.”
CERT training is based on the premise that county residents could be on their own for the first 72 hours or longer following a natural disaster, according to fire officials.
The CERT program and manual, based on a federal model, was developed through the Marin County Disaster and Citizen Corps Council. Fire departments offer civilian training programs throughout the year.
Residents who attend a $25, 10-hour CERT course are introduced to emergency preparedness, disaster first aid, fire prevention and suppression, light search and rescue, weapons of mass destruction, hazardous materials and a live disaster simulation. Classes are usually offered on consecutive Saturdays or in one weekend.
“We have CERT in Southern Marin, West Marin, and it’s now in Central Marin,” said council member Reva Saper, of Mill Valley. “And the only two areas that don’t teach CERT - San Rafael and Novato - have their own programs.”
Ursula Hanks, emergency services coordinator with the county Office of Emergency Services, said the training program developed out of the rubble of a previous earthquake.
“This is a program really created in the aftermath of Loma Prieta (the 1989 earthquake) and lessons learned,” she said. “Funds came out of the fire system, training efforts and support started to expand dramatically and take shape throughout Marin County.”
Hanks said her office reaches out to residents on the importance of basic preparedness.
“We tell people to be aware of where you live and look at your own home and your environment,” she said. “The awareness is there - we get everyone prepared as best they can to be proactive.”
Tiburon and Belvedere residents have become very proactive over the last several months.
Although the outlying communities of Belvedere and Tiburon are part of the CERT initiative, officials of the two municipalities banded together to create their own disaster survival program called “Get Ready.”
“We looked at the current level of awareness and realized we need to do more than what is being offered,” said Tiburon fire Battalion Chief Ed Lynch.
Lynch said time commitments and an older community are among the reasons the CERT program was not having much success on the peninsula.
“What has traditionally been offered is either CERT or nothing,” he said. “With this course, it seems to hit the nail on the head, and the public’s response to this has been nothing short of unbelievable.”
A disaster task force was created in November 2005 following harrowing tales of Hurricane Katrina shared by Belvedere resident Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell served in the region as a member of a medical disaster team.
Formed in cooperation with emergency service personnel, officials and nonprofit groups, the task force has been training citizens to assist in the 60 free classes offered in April and May.
“We are training citizens on how to train their neighbors,” said Lynch. He said the communities will have more than 200 trained assistants - double the original goal of 100. Lynch estimated the first month of classes will have provided training to 1,000 of the 10,500 people living in the two isolated communities.
“With one road in and out, it’s quite foreseeable that we could be shut down as far as through traffic for quite some time (in an emergency),” Lynch said. “We wanted to prepare residents to sustain shelter, food, water and emergency supplies in their homes and be able to take care of themselves and their families for three to five days following a disaster.”
Lynch said the “Get Ready” goal is for one member of each household to go through the training session and complete the three remaining steps to get certification - get required supplies, food and water and store it all in one place at home.
“We realize living next to a large metropolitan area like San Francisco or the East Bay, we are not the first to receive needed help,” he said.
Steven Davis, battalion chief with the San Rafael Fire Department, said regardless of name, such training programs in Marin share the same origin.
“What you’ll find is a lot of different names for the same program,” he said. “It’s the same Federal Emergency Management Agency-compliant CERT curriculum offered around the country.”
His department has run the Disaster Area Response Team (DART) since 1997. He estimated there have been more than 700 program graduates so far.
“We try to offer at least four classes a year, usually in spring and fall,” Davis said.
He said the eight-week course covering disaster simulations, fire safety and rescue techniques is offered for San Rafael residents, but he estimated about 10 percent to 15 percent of the pupils come from outside the city.
“These are lifelong skills,” he said.
The Homeowner Emergency Action Response Team (HEART) for Novato residents was in place 20 years ago before the CERT program was developed, according to Forrest Craig, division chief with the Novato Fire Protection District.
“It almost mirrors what the CERT programs are doing,” he said.
Craig said his fire district has a huge demand for the $40, eight-module set of classes, which include first aid, CPR, wildland fire protection and prevention, and small hazardous materials. Craig described the citizen volunteers who assist in the training as “a huge inspiration.”
“They get excited and they inspire others within their neighborhoods to get training as well,” he said.
In Mill Valley on Saturday, firefighters from the Southern Marin Fire Protection District, Mill Valley Fire Department and Marin County Fire Department walked their young pupils through a rotating series of stations that educated the students in ladder technique, fire hose streaming, and auto extraction and cribbing - the act of lifting heavy objects off people using common objects.
“I really do want to be a firefighter, so this training is great,” said Josh Stykel, 17, a senior at Novato High School.
Stykel had just spent 15 minutes acting as safety officer for a small band of rescuers instructed by firefighters on the proper cribbing technique to raise a heavy metal Dumpster off a person using blocks of wood.
Tamsen Bell, 14, of Mill Valley said the training opportunity “called to me.”
“I want to get involved more in my community,” said the Tamalpais High School freshman. “Things could happen here - things could happen everywhere - and it’s good to be prepared for that.”
Read more Mill Valley stories at the IJ’s Mill Valley city page.