Thank you for visiting our site. We appreciate your interest in the Tigard's Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) organization. If you aren't familiar with CERT, this article will give you some background information about CERT. Local government prepares for everyday emergencies. However, during a disaster, the number and scope of incidents can quickly overwhelm conventional emergency services. CERT's role is to assist in these circumstances. The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training program is an all-risk, all-hazard training. This valuable course is designed to help you protect yourself, your family, your neighbors and your neighborhood in an emergency situation. CERT is a positive and realistic approach to emergency and disaster situations where citizens may initially be on their own and their actions can make a difference. While people will respond to others in need without the training, one goal of the CERT program is to help them do so effectively and efficiently without placing themselves in unnecessary danger. In the CERT training, citizens learn to:

• Turn Off utilities and put out small fires
• Perform Simple Triage and basic medical aid
• Basic Urban Search and Rescue

Additionally CERTs collect disaster intelligence to support first responder efforts and train as teams to support the emergency response effort. Having the CERT training means you're as ready as you can be to help yourself, your family and your neighborhood. Read on to learn how you can join CERT and play a vital role as a volunteer in Tigard CERT.

HOW DO I JOIN?

CERT members receive 24 hours (3 hours a week for eight weeks) of initial training. The 8-week course is followed by full-day biannual refresher drills, and enhanced training and deployment.
CERT is provided free of charge within the City of Tigard to anyone 18 or over. Classes are taught evenings continually twice a year in convenient locations. The current schedule is always available on the internet at www.tigardcert.org.  To register for a class, go to http://www.tigard-or.gov/default.asp. Go to Quick Links on the left column and click on Emergency Management
You can also organize a class for your neighborhood, business or community group. You need a minimum of 25 people to be trained and a location to hold the training. Contact the Tigard CERT Unit at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to schedule your class. The Tigard CERT Training only conducts non-discriminatory classes. Non-discrimination includes race, religion, gender, and group affiliations.

HOW DID CERT START?

Tigard CERT was established in January 2004. On October 1, 1987, the Whittier Narrows earthquake vividly underscored the threat of an area-wide major disaster, and demonstrated the need to expedite the training of civilians to prepare for earthquakes and other emergencies. Following the Whittier Narrows earthquake, the City of Los Angeles took an aggressive role in protecting the citizens of Los Angeles by creating the Disaster Preparedness Division (now the Disaster Preparedness Section) within the Los Angeles Fire Department. Their objectives included:

1993:
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) decided to make the concept and program available to communities nationwide. The Emergency Management Institute (EMI), in cooperation with the LAFD, expanded the CERT materials to make them applicable to all hazards.

2002:
In January 2002, CERT became part of the Citizen Corps, a unifying structure to link a variety of related volunteer activities to expand a community's resources for crime prevention and emergency response.

2004:
As of January 2004, 50 states, three territories and six foreign countries are using the CERT training.