Office of Emergency Management

Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)

The Co Crieve Hall CERT Training mmunity Emergency Response Team (CERT) is a program to train citizens from the community who form teams in geographical areas of the county, train together on a regular basis, and work together during large scale disasters to assist their neighborhood and surrounding areas affected.

Citizens in the community are trained on disaster preparedness, how to cut off utilities, put out small fires, administer disaster first aid, safely search for and rescue victims, organize themselves and collect disaster intelligence to support first responder efforts. Volunteers must enroll in an initial 16 hour instructional course that is taught at a convenient location in the community. Once citizens successfully complete the initial 16 hour course, they then continue training with a CERT established. You can either start your own CERT in your area, or you can join one in your area.

Target Audience: Community groups, church groups, businesses, family, friends, etc.

Teams: Suggested teams are groups of people that live close to each other (neighborhood watch groups etc), church groups, business formed teams, or any group that has similar attributes.

CERT Tri-fold Brochure

To sign up or for more information, please contact the CERT Program Manager: Heidi Mariscal or Angela Roscoe.

CERT logo

Organized Community Emergency Response Teams in Davidson County

Crieve Hall Neighborhood (South Nashville area)
Ron Ream
ronream@aol.com

Belmont Church CERT
Todd Boyce
wood8115@bellsouth.net

G2R CERT (Donelson/Hermitage area)
Catherine Goodrich
dhcert01@gmail.com

Richland District CERT (West Nashville area)
Dwayne Ethridge
richlandcert@yahoo.com

How to get a CERT class scheduled

Here is a checklist of items/criteria for a CERT class.

Facility

Need to have a room conducive to classroom setting
Room to be used as classroom needs to have enough room for computer presentation equipment, and tables and chairs for number of students registered.
The classroom should have the capability to be darkened to allow for presentation and video viewing.
A second room will be needed for hands on exercises. This room should have the capability to be darkened as well for optimal experience.
Area will be needed outside for fire pan exercise. This will involve a live controlled fire in a small fire pan, and will also include the residue from fire extinguishers being exhausted. This residue may spread with the wind and get on nearby items such as vehicles & sides of buildings.

Leadership

The requesting person or organization needs to assign one primary point of contact to the class to lead and organize student registrations before the class date, and to assist instructors with needs/requests etc. This also includes keeping communication with students regarding the class.

Students

The requesting person and/or organization should market for class participants, and keep a running roster of persons registering for the class.
Requesting person and/or organization needs to make the determination if this class will be closed to just their organization or if it is open to the general public.
Class size should be a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 30.
All participants must sign a waiver. CERT Program Hold Harmless/Permission Request

Scheduling

Please make requests at least 2 months in advanced. There are times that the next available class could be farther out, depending on multiple factors.
The class needs to be 16 hours. Decide what days and times you would like to have the class scheduled. Please have a couple different options available. Some suggested dates and times are: Saturdays, from 8-4 (or any 8 hours), Thursday evenings from 6-10 for 4 weeks, or Tuesday & Thursday evenings from 6-10pm for 2 weeks
Complete the CERT training request form