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SUGARMILL WOODS CERT STANDARD OPERATING
PROCEDURES Effective Date: Proposed changes to this policy should be brought to the attention of the Sugarmill Woods CERT Board of Directors. To prepare Scope: CERT members are citizens who are trained to respond to emergencies and or disasters that impact their families, homes, neighborhoods, schools, and property. The program focuses on providing specialized training to organize teams to provide vital services and information within their communities, in the absence of emergency responders whose arrival may be delayed for hours or days due to the magnitude of the disaster. The CERT program is sponsored by the Citrus County Sheriff's Office, Emergency Management Section and is an official Federal Emergency Management Agency (F.E.M.A.) program. The philosophy of Citrus County CERT is: "The greatest good for the greatest number of people". Purpose: To define procedures for the activation, notification, coordination, capabilities and responsibilities of Sugarmill Woods Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) members. General
Instructions: The Sugarmill Woods CERT program emphasizes a neighbor helping neighbor approach with training and program maintenance directed through the Citrus County Sheriff's Office, Emergency Management Section. • CERT members can be deployed for any type of major incident to include but not be limited to: 1. Natural disasters 2. Technological hazards 3. Man-made or terrorist incidents A. Activation Self Activation: Neighbor helping neighbor Community Activation: Provide support to emergency
response agencies as needed. 1.
In the event
the emergency services within the communities are overwhelmed, CERT
teams are designed to take immediate action and provide
care and support throughout their immediate area. Members of CERT are trained to self-activate in their
neighborhoods/communities and work as a team while conducting operations
until emergency services crews can gain access to and stabilize the
situation. 2.
2.
CERT members are not emergency services
personnel as defined by state law and as such are not exempt from federal,
state, and local laws when responding to emergencies. Therefore, all CERT
members must use due diligence when responding or
reporting, as directed, to emergencies. 3. CERT members
should be advised of the nature of the emergency, the number of CERT
members needed, and the staging location for operation,
when assisting emergency response agencies. B. Notification Members
should be notified of developing situations in their
neighborhoods/communities that may require their services or activation.
Communication media may include but not be limited to: 1. Radio Communications: A.
AM/FM B.
Weather
Band C.
Short
Wave/Amateur Radio 2.
Television
Communications 3.
Telephone
Communications 4. Code Red-Reverse 911 5.
Notification
from the C. Coordination 1.
Self
activated CERT
members must coordinate their
efforts until emergency response agencies arrive and provide direction and
leadership. 2.
Community
activated CERT
members should be directed by the
emergency response agencies whether on scene or through available
communications. CERT
members are only authorized to
respond to community emergencies as directed by local emergency response
agencies. 3.
Activities
of CERT members should be relayed
frequently to the on scene emergency response agencies. 4. In the event of a catastrophic
disaster which results in the temporary loss of communications, all available
CERT members should report to a rally
point, as designated by emergency response agencies, and await further
instructions. In most communities, this would be the local fire station. D. Capabilities 1. CERT members are trained to perform the
following operations. A.
Light
search and rescue B.
Fire
extinguishment on small or controllable fires C.
Basic
triage of trauma victims D.
Establishing
safe evacuation areas E.
In
some circumstances, emergency communications 2.
CERT members are
trained to assist local emergency response agencies as directed. E. Responsibilities CERT members must comply with the
requirements of CERT
training, as well as complying with
all federal, state and local laws when functioning as a CERT member. These
requirements are established through the CERT curriculum
and the Citrus County Sheriff's Office, Emergency Management Section and
include but are not limited to: 1. Completing a 2. Complete an Informed Consent, Waiver and
Release of Liability Agreement. 3. Satisfactory completion of an
approved Citrus County CERT
instruction course.
4. Maintaining competencies by attending future CERT education sessions/meetings. 5.
Signing the Acknowledgment Form attached to the 6. CERT badges and T-shirts shall be worn only during the following functions: Activation, CERT functions and activities, representing CERT at activities i.e. Fair, Expos, and during drills. Citrus Effective Date: Acknowledgement Form I hereby certify that I have read
and fully understand the information presented in the Citrus County Community
Emergency Response Team (CERT) program's
Standard Operating Procedures document. Further, I acknowledge that in my
decision to respond "at will" to emergency or disaster situations
within Citrus County, it is my duty to obey all federal, state, and local
laws while functioning as a CERT member. Further, as a CERT member, I will always use due care
whether I am self activated in my local area or community activated. I will
follow the directions of the emergency response agencies and supervisors
appointed over me. In the event that I am without direction from the
emergency response agencies or supervisors, I will perform my duties
including making decisions as to the necessity of providing emergency
services in a prudent and reasonable manner at all times. Date ______________________________ Printed CERT member name ______________________________ Signature
of CERT member
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