Ridgefielders Join Community Emergency Response Team

As the editor of the Ridgefield Patch, I try not to write myself into a story -- but on this occasion, that would be impossible. Bear with me.

This past weekend, several members of the Ridgefield community took part in basic training for the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) responsible for helping fellow Ridgefielders in case of an emergency like those in early September and late October last year -- the big storms.

Putting out fires, dragging people (dummies) from under dumpsters and learning to care for wounds were a part of the program set forth by the National CERT Program of the Department of Homeland Security.

And about 20 Ridgefielders took that step to become better prepared in case of an emergency, including First Selectman Rudy Marconi, Selectwoman Maureen Kozlark, School Board Member Irene Burgess, Education Secretary Cheryl Cook and this reporter.

Ridgefield CERT Operations Director Dick Aarons led the class for the most part, along with Fire Chief Heather Burford and other volunteers.

Complete with a fire engine in the Yanity Gym parking lot Saturday morning, CERT initiates learned how to put out a fire with an extinguisher, lift a dumpster to save someone trapped underneath it and create a splint from ordinary materials.

This reporter, in fact, had to splint the ankle of a very obstinate (on purpose for the exercise, of course) First Selectman who, to be fair, dealt with a bit of that during last year's two big storms.

Surrounding the training were the recent storms that each put the town out of power for almost a week -- although these were a "minor" emergency as emergencies go, Aarons said, Ridgefield should be prepared for the worst.

"As a community we have to depend on all the volunteers in this room to make it happen," Marconi said. "Your participation is critical to making it work."

The mission statement for the CERT program is:

To serve the citizens of Ridgefield and the surrounding towns in times of disaster, community emergencies and town-wide events.

Over the past week, the CERT initiates spent several hours learning about hazards that might occur in case of an emergency and how to handle them -- members of CERT are not necessarily trained in any medical or emergency field, but the training encourages each member to act accordingly if an emergency occurs.

Surrounding the training were the recent storms that each put the town out of power for almost a week -- although this was a "minor" emergency as emergencies go, Aarons said, Ridgefield should be prepared for the worst.