PARIS – If you want to join the front lines during a disaster to help at emergency shelters, rescue animals or aid firefighters and police, you can join Oxford County’s new disaster response team.
Scott Parker, Oxford County’s Emergency Management Agency director, said he is recruiting volunteers for the team, which he calls CERT, for Community Emergency Response Team. Ideally, people from all parts of the county will participate, he said.
Parker said the team will strengthen the system in place already to cope with catastrophes. The volunteers must take at least 20 hours of classes in subjects ranging from fire safety and light search and rescue to disaster psychology and terrorism.
In addition, volunteers with an interest in evacuating animals, working in shelters, or serving as radio operators may undergo specialized training.
“Based on my background in the military, I prefer to have people trained as volunteers versus just great Americans stepping up to the plate,” Parker said. “There is no doubt in my mind that in a disaster we would have people step up, but would they be trained?”
People with handicaps may join, as may children under 18 if they are accompanied by an adult, Parker said.
In the event of a disaster, from a bad ice storm to a massive hurricane, Parker explained that CERT volunteers could flag traffic if roads are blocked off. They could register injured people at hospitals if there is a mass influx of patients. Or they can join Parker’s emergency headquarters at his county office.
“I don’t expect them to fight fires or deal with hazardous materials,” Parker said.
CERT is a federal program launched in 1994 by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, based on a model created by the Los Angeles City Fire Department. Grants to pay for training are available, Parker said, but the program costs very little because it is based on volunteers.
In Maine, several other counties have established emergency response teams, including York, Somerset, Cumberland and Waldo counties, according to Parker.
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