CERT 20 Hour Class: Co-hosted by Oak Harbor Fire Department

Island County CERT is blessed with educators from North Whidbey, Oak Harbor, Central Whidbey, South Whidbey, and Camano Island Fire stations. Island County Amateur Radio Club and Camano Preparedness Group are also key volunteers within our community.

• Disaster Preparedness: Addresses hazards specific to the community. Materials cover actions that participants and their families take before, during and after a disaster as well as an overview of CERT and local laws governing volunteers.
• Fire Suppression: Covers fire chemistry, hazardous materials, fire hazards and fire suppression strategies. However, the thrust of this session is the safe use of fire extinguishers, controlling utilities and extinguishing a small fire.
• Medical Operations Part I: Participants practice diagnosing and treating airway obstruction, bleeding and shock by using simple triage and rapid treatment techniques.
• Medical Operations Part II: Covers evaluating patients by doing a head to toe assessment, establishing a medical treatment area and performing basic first aid.
• Light Search and Rescue Operations: Participants learn about search and rescue planning, size-up, search techniques, rescue techniques and rescuer safety.
• Psychology and Team Organization: Covers signs and symptoms that might be experienced by the disaster victim and workers, and addresses CERT organization and management.
• Course Review and Disaster Simulation: Participants review and practice the skills that they have learned during the previous six sessions in a disaster activity.

Our CERT classes run Friday through Sunday and consist of 20 hours of training. You may take this class as many times as you desire as we want you to feel comfortable with the knowledge we are sharing. The class is free to take.