In 95% of all emergencies, the victim or bystander provides the first immediate assistance on the scene. Would you know what to do?

Gloucester’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) is a training program that prepares you to help yourself, your family, and your neighbors in the event of a disaster. During an incident, emergency service personnel may not be able to reach everyone right away. By getting training in CERT, you will have the skills to help emergency responders save lives and protect property.

As a member of a CERT team, you can be called on to help in disasters and planned events, participate in drills and exercises and take additional training. CERT teams are known and trusted resources to emergency responders and their communities.

Under the direction of local emergency responders, CERT teams can provide critical support by giving immediate assistance to victims, providing damage assessment information and organizing other volunteers at a disaster site. Volunteers trained in CERT also offer a potential workforce for performing duties such as shelter support, crowd control and evacuation.

CERT training takes about 20 hours to complete and will provide critical skills necessary for emergency preparedness and response.
 
Participants learn how to:

• Identify and anticipate hazards
• Reduce fire hazards in the home and workplace
• Extinguish small fires
• Assist emergency responders
• Conduct light search and rescue
• Set up medical treatment areas
• Apply basic medical techniques
• Help reduce survivor stress

Who should take CERT Training?

• Anyone over the age of 18
• People interested in taking an active role in hometown preparedness 
• Neighborhood watch groups 
• Community leaders 
• Parents 
• Communities of faith 
• Teachers and Administrators 
• Members of clubs and civic organizations

For more information about joining the Gloucester CERT team, please email us at

If you are interested in joining CERT please download and complete the application form.