FLORENCE COUNTY, SC (WBTW) – Florence County Emergency Management will host its first CERT training course in June.
Florence County officials recognized a need for the community to be better prepared in the case of a natural or man made disaster and because of this need developed a CERT program.
The primary purpose of the Florence County CERT will be to help their communities until first responders arrive. Additionally trained CERT members may volunteer to support Florence County Public Safety agencies during a disaster response.
The Florence County Sheriff’s Office, Florence County Emergency Medical Services and Florence County Fire Chief’s Association also recognized this need and partnered with Emergency Management to implement the Florence County CERT.
The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program is an official emergency preparedness program of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The CERT concept was originally developed and implemented by the Los Angeles Fire Department in 1985. The need was recognized following a series of earthquakes in both the U.S. and Mexico that left hundreds dead, injured and without emergency services. By 1993, thousands of residents had been trained in the United States and Canada. The CERT program nationwide is supported and assisted by FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute (EMI) in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
The Florence County community emergency response team will operate at the neighborhood level where volunteers can take a chance to make a difference in their community.
For more information or how to get involved: http://www.fcemd.org/index.php/teams-committees/community-emergency-response-team
