Bedford CERTifies Its First Class

The Bedford Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) graduated its first class of trained volunteers on June 7, at the Bedford Old Town Hall.

Twenty people participated in 20-plus hours of training at the Bedford Safety Complex during a four-week period where they learned about triage, search and rescue, and fire suppression. Graduates represent all walks of life from a high school student to retirees; and backgrounds as diverse as nursing, marketing, writer, landscaping, property management and amateur radio operators.

"I looks forward to the members getting trained, especially in the area of shelter," said Bedford Police Chief John Bryfonski. "We sure could have used a team like this during the last ice storm and the ."

Dom DiNatale, Director NH Citizens Corp, Volunteer NH said he was impressed with the speed in which the Bedford 20 picked up the training.

"It usually takes CERT teams a year or more before they get up and running," he said. "It took Bedford CERT less than four months!".

The list of graduates includes: James Barrett,Paul Brock, Lynda Caza, James Connelly, Mike Conroy, Joe Desmarais, Robert Fowler, Shirley Fowler, Richard Fredericks, Kevin Koechel, Martin Koechel, Tara Koechel, Roland Lemire, John Morin, Stan Popielarz, Catherine Priest, Stephen Priest, Robert Sanzo, Linda Spindel and Christine Williams.

A second training class is forming now – interested parties should contact Ron Michaud, Director of Bedford, NH CERT at 603.540.0182 or info@bedfordnhcert.org.

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