You never know when an emergency could occur. Because of this haunting reality, it is essential to know what to do when disaster strikes. One way this goal can be accomplished is by joining the Carbon County Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). Starting Jan. 9, you’ll have the opportunity to do just that as CERT hosts its free community training.

To discuss the CERT training and what it entails, Castle Country Radio was joined by Nettie Martinez from CERT, who gave us an insider’s look at the event.

“CERT is the Community Emergency Response Team. So what we do is we train individuals to be prepared to take care of their family, their neighbors and themselves,” explained Martinez,” That’s our number one goal. And then that way they’re ready when a disaster strikes.”

Martinez then dove into some of the benefits of becoming CERT trained,” with CERT you get some medical background like basic first-aid. We will also teach you how to do fire suppression. We do light search and rescue and there are a couple of sections about terrorism. We don’t really go into that but there are sections about it.”

With lifesaving skills being taught, you’d think a program like this would cost hundreds of dollars. But with CERT training, you will be paying nothing at all to learn lifesaving skills. In addition to the classes, after each session, you will receive tools to add to an emergency tool kit.

Martinez then covered some of the things you will learn as a part of the training,” it is very fun, and at the end, we do an awesome mock disaster which makes you feel like you’re in a real catastrophe … I used to be scared to talk to people and it’s brought out that I can go out and I can talk to people now so I like the training parts.”

Ending our conversation, Martinez stated,” If you’re coming out make sure that you bring a device like your phone or tablet or computer because it is hybrid so we’ll do it half at home and then you’ll come and learn the skills with me.” 

To register for the Carbon County CERT training, you can visit the organization’s website here. You can also contact Martinez directly through the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office. More information can also be found on the group’s Facebook page.