Wilton CERT Offers Disaster Preparedness Training

Wilton’s volunteer Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), in conjunction with the Wilton Department of Emergency Management and New Canaan CERT, has announced their annual disaster preparedness training program. Citizens are invited to become trained to help family, friends and neighbors in the event of an emergency or disaster. CERT instructors, certified by the Connecticut Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security along with other instructors from Police, Fire and EMS, will assist in the training.

The class is open to all members of the community, ages 16 or older that have an interest in learning more about Disaster Preparedness to help their own families, friends and/or community, in the event of a disaster.

The initial training is conducted over 6 sessions starting on Oct 12th and will continue through Nov 5th. Training will cover the following areas in a combination of classroom and field practical exercises:

• Introduction to Disaster Preparedness
• Emergency Medical Operations
• Incident Command, Team Organization
• Disaster Psychology
• Terrorism & Sheltering in Place
• Fire Suppression & Light Search and Rescue

Classes will be held at a combination of different venues within New Canaan and Wilton as follows:

• Wed, Oct 12th, 7pm-10pm in Wilton, at Comstock
• Wed, Oct 19th, 7pm-10pm in New Canaan, TBD
• Sat, Oct 22nd, 8am-12pm in Wilton, at FD & Town annex
• Wed, Oct 26th, 7pm-10pm in New Canaan, TBD
• Wed, Nov 2nd, 7pm-10pm in Wilton, at Comstock
• Sat, Nov 5th, 8am-12pm in New Canaan, TBD

Manuals will be provided to all participants and there is no charge for this class.

Upon successful completion of the course, participants 18 or older have the opportunity to volunteer as members of Wilton CERT. Members of Wilton CERT are provided with a backpack with basic disaster gear and a Town Identification Card. Wilton CERT, as part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), regularly provides assistance to first responders at large emergency incidents or public events. Wilton CERT has performed a broad range of deployment activities, including missing persons searches, traffic and crowd control duties and staffing Wilton’s emergency shelter and distributing emergency food and water.

Graduates joining Wilton CERT Training will promptly be offered CPR and AED skills learning, also at no cost.

All participants must be registered in advance as FEMA strictly limits the class size. Interested participants may register by email to CERT Director of Training, John Stewart at jvstew@optonline.net. Please visit the Wilton CERT website at www.wiltoncert.org or Wilton CERT’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/wiltoncert for more information.