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I've been told that in my town it's more like a "private club" than a community organization ....

Join the local volunteer fire company....or the ambulance squad.

It is a great idea to be a trained extra set of hands for a community that could be hit with a disaster. There is never enough help when disaster strikes. The skill sets taught in the classes are something everyone should have. It would help even you to respond properly to help your own family in an emergency. My house is full of first responders. Oldest son is head of OEM in town, of course other son is on OEM and fire department. In a rural community it is nice to have many trained hands to count on. Part time PD are the only paid positions, everyone else must chip in to help their neighbor. I was EMT and heavy rescue trained in my day, now I get to sit at the desk and take care of the paperwork. Hey, somebody has to do it. Go for it. Give back to your community. You will be glad you did.

Join the local volunteer fire company....or the ambulance squad.

This. From what I've see. cERT is primarily a support role. Your local volunteer fire or squad would be responding first.

I will be joining my community cert team shortly to help with animal control

I've been told that in my town it's more like a "private club" than a community organization ....

 

It most certainly is.  I've contacted my township about it, as well as the county coordinator about it.  I've left messages with both, and they never got back to me.  Guess I'm not cool enough for the club.  And my years of experience with volunteer firefighting, numerous rescue classes I've taken, as well as the amateur radio license I hold don't make me a valuable asset to the CERT team. 

Funny I was just looking at this yesterday in conjunction with Sheriff's Auxiliary.  I have to decide if it's worth it to spend 5k on training that I may never use.  Then too, I might have to shave and well...  that would just kill my signature. 

I am on the local town CERT team and the county CERT team. The local team is more active, especially during flood season. We normally staff the town flood shelter.

 

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It most certainly is. I've contacted my township about it, as well as the county coordinator about it. I've left messages with both, and they never got back to me. Guess I'm not cool enough for the club. And my years of experience with volunteer firefighting, numerous rescue classes I've taken, as well as the amateur radio license I hold don't make me a valuable asset to the CERT team.

With that resume why wouldn't you look at local volunteer fire/ems instead of cert?

With that resume why wouldn't you look at local volunteer fire/ems instead of cert?

I was a volunteer firefighter, hence why I have all of that training. I, along with about 20 others quit the local department in 2009. I want to join another local department, but due to infighting currently going on there, I'm going to wait till it settles before making a decision.

Rumor has it a new fire company is being formed to take over the responsibilities of that fire district, so I have my eyes set on that.

 

 

 

 

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Look into the RED CROSS they have a great emergency training program for all sorts of positions and levels.

Used to be in CERT in Wayne. It wasn't bad. Training is good and federally funded. But you won't be doing much unless we have a large disaster (like Sandy).

Used to be in CERT in Wayne. It wasn't bad. Training is good and federally funded. But you won't be doing much unless we have a large disaster (like Sandy).

 

That's what I'm looking for.  Training without a major time commitment outside of a catastrophe.

It was run by the Passaic County Sheriff's office from what I remember. It's very light on commitment so if that's what you're looking for you should be good. 

 

I used to be involved a lot in that stuff on a volunteer basis but now my real job and family has taken up most of my time. 

 

The volunteer ambulance squad or fire department is nice but you have to really commit to that. If I had the time I would sign up for the first aid squad here (they're looking for new members) but as I said it requires a commitment of time I do not have.