OLD BRIDGE — FEMA is best known for providing aid to victims after natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy.
What is less well known is that even when the weather is calm and the electricity is flowing, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is busy training volunteers to respond to future emergency situations. FEMA’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program educates volunteers about disaster preparedness and trains them in basic disaster-response skills.
A group of 18 residents in Cheesequake Village — 16 of them senior citizens — graduated from the CERT program on Feb. 11 at the Old Bridge Municipal Complex.
“Even though we’re seniors, we’re willing to get out there and help,” said Peggy Stringer, a member of the graduating class. “Maybe if younger people see that we can do it, they’ll think, ‘Hey, we can do this too.’ ”
Stringer said the experience and knowledge provided by the program will stay with her forever.
“A lot of people panic when an emergency comes, but now I know what I have to do,” she said. “There wasn’t one person [in the program] that won’t be more prepared for any emergency.”
The free eight-week program met once a week on Monday nights for two-and-a-halfhour classes, covering specific topics and specialized skills each week. Topics included disaster preparedness, fire suppression, medical operations, search and rescues, and terrorism awareness.
Many of the classes included hands-on instruction. For example, during the fire suppression class, volunteers were taught how to properly handle fire extinguishers before using them to put out a controlled live fire in the classroom.
Volunteers also became familiar with splinting and bandaging injuries, prioritizing patient evacuation and debris removal methods.
CERT volunteers are qualified to help in disaster situations, but must always work in conjunction with the local police, fire department, and emergency-response teams, which teach Old Bridge’s CERT classes in partnership with coordinator Robert Greenway, a lieutenant with the Old Bridge Police Department.
In disaster situations, command centers are organized with head officials from numerous public service sectors in order to provide aid to the public. Greenway said CERT teams are an integral part of this chain of command.
“If we have a disaster, [the new CERT team] is going to be able to help people at Cheesequake Village,” Greenway said.
Mayor Owen Henry said it is important that additional CERT teams be established in Old Bridge.
“We’re trying to establish them so we don’t have to move as many resources,” he said. “Cheesequake Village is an area we’ve targeted because of the age of residents and the amount of people there, so it’ll be nice to have boots on the ground quickly.”
The mayor said CERT teams have really produced for the township in the past.
“They played a crucial role during [Hurricane] Sandy. They manned and operated our shelter at Sandburg Middle School,” he said.
A new training class will start in March, with the location and dates to be determined.
“Our CERT team is one of the largest in Middlesex County,” Greenway said. “After we do the training in March, with a big response we could have the biggest in the state.”
Anyone interested in participating in the CERT training program is urged to check for updates on the township website, www.oldbridge.com, or contact police Lt. Robert Greenway.
Contact Tom Castles at [email protected].