Kim Preston is committed to community service so when she learned about the Community Emergency Response Team program, she jumped at the chance to participate.
“I’ve always been interested in community service. I’ve been a volunteer for 25 years with the Boy Scouts. It’s good to contribute to community especially in times of disaster, especially in an era of disasters. It feels good to help in whatever way I can and CERT offered me that opportunity,” said Preston.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s CERT program educates volunteers about disaster preparedness for the hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization and disaster medical operations.
There are 2,700 local CERT programs in the nation including Butte County CERT. In all locations FEMA requires a local sponsoring jurisdiction. The Butte County Sheriff’s Office fills that role locally.
During and following the 2018 Camp Fire there was an “overwhelming desire” by Butte County residents to help their Paradise, Magalia and Concow neighbors, said Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea.
“We really appreciated and valued the assistance we were receiving from the public. We started to look for a more coordinated approach to utilizing citizen volunteers,” said Honea.
In the meantime, Grant Hunsicker, a Magalia resident, had contacted the sheriff to discuss setting up a CERT team in that community. Honea liked the concept of CERT but felt it would be better to have a county-wide team. This way, said Honea, if people in one community were dealing with an emergency, residents from nearby communities could be deployed to assist them.
Hunsicker said the sheriff’s suggestion to make it a county-wide and not just ridge program was “very wise” and the Butte County CERT was established in May.
There are currently 26 fully trained CERT volunteers and about another 35 waiting for training or completing training. The training includes basic medical triage, fire education and suppression, light search and rescue, animal control and communications.
“We are deployed and perform tasks at the sheriff’s pleasure. That can be everything from traffic control assistance, welfare checks, food distribution, crowd control and call center support among other things,” said Hunsicker, Butte County CERT manager.
During the North Complex fires, the newly organized civilian emergency response team was activated by the sheriff. Among those called to service was Preston who herself was under evacuation orders. Preston said while she had successfully completed her CERT training, she’d not been sworn so in at the time so she was sworn in on an “emergency basis” and after the evacuation for her home was lifted, she was assigned to the Butte County Sheriff Fire Assistance Call Center.
At the center CERT volunteers relived dispatchers from having to answer non-emergency calls from locals regarding such things as where evacuation orders were in place; were their homes still standing; and, requests for deputy escorts to their properties.
“I thought it was cool that I got to go to work. I was ready. There were CERT volunteers and deputies. It was fabulous, all of us working together. It felt good to help people,” said Preston.
Honea said CERT volunteers were a “great resource” and had they not been available the sheriff department’s resources would have been “stretched thin.”
“It took a burden off of us. I am thankful to have them and appreciate their good service and the CERT model,” said Honea.
During the North Complex fires CERT volunteers also brought food and meals to North Valley Animal Disaster Group volunteers, National Guard members and fire evacuees sheltering in motels in Gridley and Chico. The volunteers provided 100 hours of service at the temporary evacuation site and about 300 hours of service at the call center, according to Hunsicker.
“(CERT) is just getting started we’re just figuring out all the things we can help with and the sheriff is thinking too. It’s a growing program and it’s an honor and a privilege to be part of it,” said Preston.
For more information about Butte County CERT email cert@buttecounty.net or visit https://ift.tt/2U54Yhm.
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