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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/22/1996, 5 - COMMUNITY EMERGENCY RESPONSE TRAINING (CERT) council j agenba Repoat CITY O F SAN LUIS O B 1 S P 0 FROM: Robert F. Neumann, Fire Chief Prepared By: Rik Grencik, Fire Engineer SUBJECT: Community Emergency Response Training (CERT) CAO RECONEMM�iDATION Give conceptual approval allowing the Fire Chief to develop a neighborhood Community Emergency Response Training (CERT) program within the City of San Luis Obispo DISCUSSION Background Historically, the Fire Department has been the lead agency in the City, as directed by the City Charter, to coordinate and develop programs within the Disaster Preparedness area. In the past, the Fire Department has equipped the City with an extensive set of detailed plans, i.e., Earthquake, Nuclear Power, Hazardous Materials and Wildland. These plans were created to provide for the coordinated mitigation and continued operation of the City in case of a disaster. As we have seen all too often in the past, these plans have been quite useful during local disasters, i.e., Hwy. 41 Fire, January Flood of 1995, etc. They have greatly helped the various City Departments coordinate our efforts and resources. As the lead agency, besides developing disaster plans, the Fire Department has presented annual citywide disaster drills and has coordinated the training of City employees at the California State Training Institute (CSTI) at Camp San Luis. Overview The purpose of this document is to inform the Council of what staff considers is an exciting new direction for both the City and the Fire Department. As stated previously, in the past we have directed our efforts in the preparedness arena to the employees of the City. Although this has been very effective to date, due to time and financial constraints, the one major link in the chain that has been neglected is the training of our customers, the citizens. In the event of a major disaster it may be necessary for citizens to fend for themselves for up to 72 hours from the initial start of an incident. This is due to the extremely high volume of calls that are anticipated to be handled by the limited resources of our Fire Department and other emergency agencies. The 72-hour figure is often quoted as the time-frame needed to put State and/or National assistance into place. Simply put, it is a supply and demand issue. Proposed Program Our solution to this concern is to implement a program that, over time and on a mass scale, actually J�� Council Agenda Report- Community Emergency Response Training (CERT) Page 2 trains the citizens in basic emergency preparedness and recovery. This concept is commonly referred to as Community Emergency Response Training (CERT). The program will be open to adults of all ages, and is made up of a series of four classes, each two to four hours in length. The course content is generally considered basic and includes such subjects as: storing emergency supplies, shutting off utilities, organizational skills, rescue techniques and numerous other related information_ This information is provided through classroom and manipulative, or "hands-on," training. The citizens don't just talk about it, they do it. At the beginning of the hands-on portion of the course, the student is given a colored hard hat and vest that are theirs to keep, and at the completion of the course the graduate is given a certificate. The idea is to train the individual citizen to be self-sufficient and then to assist them to develop effective neighborhood teams that can help others during this critical 48 to 72 hour time frame. By having the neighborhood teams assist in the vast majority of the low to moderate level emergencies that follow a disaster, the professional emergency crews can concentrate on the more severe emergencies that may effect our community. In the event of a disaster, the trained member of the CERT team, identified by the colored hard hat and vest, will be relied on for assistance and reliable information. In developing the CERT concept within our community, the Fire Department is following in the footsteps of some very successful programs in other communities. In an effort to not "reinvent the wheel",the program we are developing is patterned after programs instituted by San Francisco, Long Beach, Los Angeles, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. From these programs, we have learned it is best to start small. Our plan is that in the spring of 1997, we will initiate this program by initially training 3040 employees of the City. We anticipate that in the fall of 1997, this program will be introduced to the citizens of our community on a limited basis. Additionally, during the development of this program, we have been working with Cal Poly trying to develop a similar program for the campus. In formulating an identical program, staff believes that our efforts will assist both entities in developing a mutually beneficial arrangement that will greatly assist the community as a whole. This new effort and direction of implementing this program clearly fits within the Fire Department's mission statement, as well as the objectives stated within the current budget statement relating to disaster preparedness. Since our purpose here is to inform you of our efforts in this exciting new program, staff believes that your support will only enhance its validity and standing within the community. FISCAL IMPACT: There is no additional direct fiscal impact associated with supporting this program. All immediate expenses will be drawn from the current operating budget of the Disaster Preparedness budget in place. In the future as the program expands, staff clearly understands that additional resources will not be readily available. The Fire Department will pursue a number of cost recovery avenues, such as: grants, donations or volunteers so that the program will become self-supporting. 14EETING AGENDA DATE ld'.z,Z-96ITEM # San Luis Obispo Firefighter's Association 748 Pismo Street, San Luis Obispo, California 93401 FROM: Mark McCullough, President SLOFFA SUBJECT: Community Emergency Response Program Let me begin by stating that the Association is supportive of this program. Due to the ability of .this community to be isolated during a disaster this program. is a. necessity and should have been initiated years ago. This type of program is becoming standard practice throughout the State. I would also like to ask you to support this program. I believe it is premature for the Chief to say that there will be no fiscal impacts associated with this program. There will certainly be impacts to otter programs that the Department delivers due to the time required to develop, implement and maintain this program. This is an excellent program for everyone involved, especially the citizens. It should be embraced by all of us. With everyone's sincere cooperation no obstacle will be insurmountable. I again ask you to support this program. Respectfully, Mark McCulloughllclt Cts+R��• Fih DIR 'O �+� &-*RE CHIEF eATTORNEY O PW DIR (VCLERVORIC O POLICE CHF O MGMT TEAM D REC DIR 0 C READ FILF: 13 UTIL DIR CI PERS D!R_ PF RECEIVED OCT 2 1 1996 CITY COUNCIL SAN I "¢OBISPO,CA PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER