Hopatcong CERT Still Seeing a Great Trained Team for 2020

The post-holiday gathering of Hopatcong CERT February 1st brought together some long-term volunteers that have been on the team since its inception 15 years ago. Although the Hopatcong Police Department’s founding leaders have long since retired from the Borough, their guidance and contributions are still being recognized by the team.

In 2005 Police Chief John Swanson was the driving force behind Patrol Officer Bob Haffner in establishing an emergency services unit and a Community Emergency Response Team - CERT. Officer Bob Hafner grew an impressive profile in Hopatcong as - the department's Patrolman's Benevolent Association president; Office of Emergency Management coordinator; emergency services coordinator; community policing officer; the Community Emergency Response Team coordinator; a co-founder of Hopatcong's Armed Forces Relief Committee; the Police Explorers head; a bicycle patrolman; and a baby seat safety instructor.

After Hurricane Irene in August 2011, the department looked for the best approaches to give responsive assistance to residents until Jersey Central Power & Light could restore electricity to the borough. They were proactive to develop procedures for the volunteer CERT team to check on senior citizens and others in need during these power outages. They were ready with expedient responses to Superstorm Sandy on October 22,2012. Eight days later all of Hopatcong was still without power. The borough set up its emergency shelter at the Hopatcong High School which stayed open for two weeks and CERT filled many assistant activities at the HHS shelter. These expansive power outages motivated my residents to sign up for the Hopatcong CERT where the Mayor had noted that “the Hopatcong CERT team has about the same amount of volunteers as the entire Sussex County CERT team.”

After his retirement from the Hopatcong Police Department, Hafner pursued a new career in the Sussex County Sheriff’s Department as the Emergency Management Deputy Coordinator and Sussex County’s CERT Coordinator. CERT Teams are located in Green, Sparta, Andover, Stillwater, Hopatcong, and for those that do not have one in their municipality there is a county-based CERT team.

It takes 10 weeks of free training to become a Certified Emergency Response Team - CERT member. Total basic training is usually about 24 hours, scheduled in 2-1/2 hour modules over a period of weeks. Training courses, materials and equipment are provided free of charge. To become a CERT member, you must be at least 18 years of age. The training covers the following areas: disaster preparedness; disaster fire suppression; medical operations; light search and rescue operations; disaster psychology and team organization; terrorism and CERT disaster simulation.

Many think that Hopatcong has had more than its share of storm power outages. However, 15 years later Hopatcong feels very lucky to have a devoted Police Department - the kind that helps jump start training to a volunteer response team program. On Saturday everyone felt proud to have a slice cake for this long-standing team trained by the guidance of Hopatcong’s finest.

For residents in Hopatcong interested signing up for Hopatcong CERT, please Facebook message https://www.facebook.com/cert.hopatcong for the latest enrollment info.