An information session will be held on Jan. 18 at the Mt. Laurel EMS station on Masonville Road.
Mt. Laurel’s Community Emergency Response Team is looking for new members.
CERT, organized locally under the township’s Office of Emergency Management, helps train members of the public to better prepare for emergency situations that can arise in their local community.
According to Ronald Devlin, coordinator for Mt. Laurel’s Office of Emergency Management, those trained through the local CERT program can give support to first responders in emergencies, provide immediate assistance to victims or help organize other volunteers at the site of an emergency or disaster.
Just some of the activities CERT members can be trained to do include ensuring families and neighbors are safe following a disaster, helping organize disaster response efforts, controlling traffic during small power outages or large-scale public events, or even just informing other members of the community how they should prepare to help in the event of a future emergency.
According the state’s Office of Emergency Management, CERTs in New Jersey have been used to search for lost or kidnapped children, staff emergency operations centers to monitor emergencies and assist relief organizations with mass care.
According to the state OEM, total training to become a CERT member is usually around 20 hours, scheduled in several blocks to help address the particular needs of a given community.
With the training, all materials and equipment will be provided free of charge, and once complete, all members of the team are insured.
“They’re all volunteers and they help in community events and disasters, and with any type of emergency that would happen we can call them,” Devlin said.
As volunteers trained through CERT use their emergency response skills to deal with issues such as light search and rescue, medical operations or fire safety, professional first responders can focus on more pressing or complex issues during emergencies.
With all that in mind, Devlin is inviting members of the public to a meeting on Jan. 18 to learn more about the group from organizers and members.
“It’s going to basically be an open public meeting,” Devlin said. “Anybody that wants to join or wants to get information, they can show up at that meeting and we can talk to them,” Devlin said.
Member of the Mt. Laurel CERT will meet from 7 to 9 p.m. on Jan. 18 at the Mt. Laurel EMS station at 201 Masonville Road. The meeting is open to the public, including those who live in Mt. Laurel and those who do not.
To learn more about Mt. Laurel CERT, visit the township’s Office of Emergency Management page on the township website at www.mountlaurel.com or the office’s page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MountLaurelOEM.
According to the township’s website, when emergencies happen, CERT members can give “critical support” to first responders.
Locals can also learn about the broader CERT program through www.ready.gov, an official website of the Department of Homeland Security.
