BETHEL – Community emergency response team training will be offered starting April 5 at Telstar Regional High School.

It is a free 20-hour course that covers disaster preparedness, fire suppression, basic disaster medical operations, light search and rescue, disaster psychology, team organization, and terrorism.

Following a disaster, citizen-responders use their training to help first responders and support local shelters. The training establishes a partnership between local emergency management, response agencies and the people in the community that they serve.

Members can also volunteer for special projects that improve a community’s preparedness. The training concludes with a disaster simulation in which participants practice skills that they leaned throughout the course.

Instructors will be Scott Parker and county CERT members. The sessions will run from 6 to 8:30 p.m. for nine weeks. Dates are April 5, 12, 19, 26, May 3, 10, 17, 24, and 31.

A minimum of 10 people is required to run the class. Register by contacting the county EMA office at 743-6336 or e-mailing [email protected].