The Emergency Response Team Model:
A Common Sense Approach!

By Frank Borden and Robert G. Lee

When a major disaster strikes a community, critical resources – emergency services, communications, transportation, and lifeline systems – are often overwhelmed. Neighborhoods and businesses are cut off from outside support. There may be restricted access of emergency response organizations into critically affected areas.

Individuals, neighborhoods, schools and businesses may need to rely on their own resources for food, water, first aid, and shelter in the 72 hours immediately following the disaster. Self-help and mutual aid become essential. The ability to "fend for yourself" during this crucial time period will be critical to survival and recovery.

In every major disaster, volunteers emerge to do the initial search, rescue, and first aid. Such volunteerism is inevitable. Combine this fact with the probability that critical resources will be overwhelmed. You now have two good reasons to prepare at the community level.

Through the leadership of the City of Los Angeles, a program began to emerge in the mid 80’s that would increase "community self-sufficiency" during times of disaster. CERT, the Community Emergency Response Team program, has been adapted and is being used worldwide. Community preparedness makes sense for a number of reasons.

A Rationale For... Community-Based Preparedness Planning

Hazard reduction and preparedness measures reduce injuries, loss of lives, and property damage.

Individuals and organizations perform more effectively in a disaster period if there has been prior planning for disaster response. Studies indicate that self-help preparedness will enhance the ability of a person to manage and perhaps even reduce some of his or her own emergency needs.

Preparedness efforts are more successful if they are incorporated into the social and political fabric of the community - neighborhoods, schools, work places, churches, etc.

Effective response requires comprehensive planning and coordination of all who need to be involved – government, volunteer groups, private businesses, schools, etc. With the necessary training and information, individuals, neighborhoods, schools and businesses may serve as a crucial resource, capable of performing many of the necessary emergency functions in the immediate post-disaster period.

The Beginnings of CERT...

Lessons from Japan
In February of 1985, a group of Los Angeles City officials went to Japan to study its extensive earthquake preparedness plans. The group encountered a homogenous society that had taken extensive steps to train entire neighborhoods in one aspect of alleviating the potential devastation that would follow a major earthquake. These single-function neighborhood teams were trained in either fire suppression, light search and rescue operations, first aid, or evacuation.

Lessons from Mexico City
In September of that year, a Los Angeles City investigation team was sent to Mexico City following an earthquake there that registered a magnitude 8.1 on the Richter scale. More than 10,000 people were killed and 30,000 injured. Prior to the disaster, Mexico City had no training program for citizens. However, large groups of volunteers spontaneously organized and performed light search and rescue operations. Volunteers are credited with more than 800 successful rescues. Unfortunately, more than 100 of these untrained volunteers died during the 15-day rescue operation.

The lessons learned in Mexico City strongly indicate that a plan to train volunteers to help themselves and others, and become an adjunct to government response, was essential to overall preparedness, survival, and recovery.

A Pilot Program in Los Angeles
The City of Los Angeles Fire Department developed a pilot program to train a group of leaders in a neighborhood watch organization. A concept developed involving multi-functional volunteer response teams with the ability to perform basic fire suppression, light search and rescue, and first aid. This first team of 30 people completed training in early 1986 and proved that the concept was viable through various drills, demonstrations, and exercises.

On October 1, 1987, the Whittier Narrows earthquake vividly underscored the threat of an area-wide major disaster, and demonstrated the need to expedite the training of civilians to prepare for earthquakes and other emergencies.

A Commitment to Community Preparedness
Following the Whittier Narrows earthquake, the City of Los Angeles took an aggressive role in protecting the citizens of Los Angeles by creating the Disaster Preparedness Division within the Los Angeles City Fire Department. Their objectives included:

• Educate and train the public and government sectors in disaster preparedness
• Research, evaluate, and disseminate disaster information
• Develop, train, and maintain a network of Community Emergency Response Teams (CERTs).

The CERT Program
Volunteers are trained in basic self-help emergency functions such as team organization, management, fire suppression, utility control, search and rescue, and disaster medical operations. Class size varies, depending on need, in order to maximize training efforts and insure quality of instruction. Classes should be between 25 and 60 persons. Ideally, firefighters and paramedics will teach the course in seven 2-1/2 hour classes emphasizing "hands-on" training.

Training for the Entire Community
Training is given to meet the specific needs of three groups:

1. Community Groups
Homeowners associations, neighborhood watch groups, or religious organizations are brought together to form geographically distributed teams.

2. Business and Industry
Business groups are selected depending on location and where they can accomplish the most good for the public during a large disaster. This includes high-rise office buildings, large hotels, or large industrial complexes.

3. City Government
In order to improve disaster operations and the City’s recovery abilities, City employees are trained, thus enabling City government to continue providing needed services to its citizens.

The Curriculum
A seven week, 17-1/2 hour training program was developed to prepare individuals for the overall demands resulting from a major disaster. The training is not designed to enable civilians to respond to a disaster with the ability of professional emergency personnel. Rather, it teaches greater self-sufficiency and optimizes chances of survival. Brief class descriptions follow:

Class 1 begins with an overview of the earthquake threat in Southern California. Personal and family preparedness are given a special emphasis because individuals must feel comfortable about the safety of their family and loved ones if they are asked to function away from home during an emergency. This is followed by "how to" information on non-structural hazard mitigation.

Class 2 outlines basic fire suppression techniques to include size-up, fire chemistry, fire extinguisher types and usage, and utility control. During Class 2, participants will extinguish a flammable liquid fire and begin developing self-confidence and teamwork.

Class 3 begins disaster medical operations with recognition and treatment of life threatening emergencies. Volunteers also learn the principles of triage, transportation, and treatment area management.

Class 4 is the second session of disaster medical operations. In this class, the head-to-toe patient evaluation is taught, along with recognition and treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

Class 5 discusses light search and rescue operations, including search techniques, evacuation and rescue methods, principles of mechanical advantage, and basic cribbing techniques. Heavy emphasis is placed on recognizing rescue limitations and safety by discussing the dangers of various building constructions.

Class 6 prepares members for the emotional environment by discussing the psychology of a disaster. The Incident Command System (ICS) is introduced in a simplified format, again stressing the need for teamwork, organization, and logistical planning.

Class 7 is a course review and simulated disaster exercise. Participants are required to apply the individual principles they have learned to the overall demands of a simulated disaster. This class will dramatize the multi-functional training approach, as well as promote team reliance.

Attempts are made to custom fit each program to the needs of the group receiving the training. For example, when teaching the program to a community group in the heavily brush laden Santa Monica Mountains, a special emphasis is placed on home preparation for brush fires and actions to take during a large scale brush fire. When working with business teams within a high-rise building, alarm and standpipe systems, stairwell access, and evacuation techniques are discussed.

Team Operations
Upon completion of the course, team members are given a certificate and provided with green hard hats and silk-screened vests for identification. They are encouraged to purchase personal safety equipment, such as goggles, gloves, and basic first aid supplies. Businesses, on the other hand, are encouraged to provide needed safety equipment for their trained employees, and to establish an emergency supply cache.

As each team is formed, they select a team leader, one alternate, and an emergency meeting location (staging area). Teams are instructed to go into action during a relatively moderate earthquake of magnitude 5.0 or greater on the Richter scale. The idea is to have the team practice mobilization and damage assessment skills, regardless of actual need.

The deployment of CERTs in an actual disaster is intended to occur progressively and as needs dictate. Members are taught to first assess themselves and their immediate environment. If there are no problems, then they expand to adjacent areas and continue to assess damage and provide assistance through their skills in emergency operations.

CERT members encountering no need would report to their staging locations and formulate action plans based on overall area needs. If members find themselves in a heavily affected location and problems are greater than they can handle, then "runners" are sent to staging locations to obtain help from available resources. Ham radio and CB radio links may be used to increase communication capabilities and coordination.

The staging location is where the Fire Department would interact with CERTs. Overall damage assessment and volunteer resource availability can thus be more effectively communicated and utilized.

The Follow Through...
Obviously, training cannot be a one-time job. Awareness, commitment, and skills must be repeatedly practiced to maintain the edge necessary for the greatest level of response.

With this in mind, the City of Los Angeles formed "The Community Liaison Program." The liaisons are in a position to stimulate interest and maintain involvement in the team by scheduling regular team meetings and by planning and participating in practice disaster scenarios.

In order to maintain skill levels and improve performance, supplemental training for each team is conducted quarterly with 2-1/2 hour continuing education classes. Teams from various areas are combined during this training so that valuable Fire Department resources can be more efficiently utilized, and the networking of teams can be expanded.

The CERT program provides an effective first-response capability. Acting as individuals first, then later as a team, trained volunteers can fan out within their particular areas, extinguishing small fires, turning off natural gas inlets to damaged homes, performing light search and rescue, and then rendering basic first aid. Trained volunteers also offer an important potential work force to service organizations in non-hazardous functions, such as shelter support, crowd control, evacuation, etc.

Clearly, the key to survival is self-sufficiency, and the key to mitigating the effects of a disaster is preparation and planning. The CERT program is a significant step toward reducing the impact of a disaster by ensuring that city employees, civilians in business and community groups will not only be "spontaneous" but also effective First Responders!

About the Authors
Frank W. Borden and Robert G. Lee are co-owners of Borden/Lee Consulting. They specialize in Emergency Response Management, based on 60+ years of "hands-on" experience.

Mr. Borden is retired Assistant Chief of the Los Angeles City Fire Dept. and developed the CERT Program for the City of Los Angeles. Mr. Lee was among the first to successfully adapt CERT to the private sector. For additional information, call (310) 833-6926 or (818) 893-2552, or e-mail boblee@gte.net.