Picatinny community graduates first emergency response team

By Mr. Eric Kowal (RDECOM)November 6, 2008

(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. - Twenty-five Picatinny employees from various organizations and walks of life graduated as members of the first volunteer community emergency response team during a ceremony here Oct. 24.

The team endured a four day CERT course that teaches them the basic skills necessary to prepare for search and rescue missions, medical triage and fire suppression as well as other disaster preparedness response skills.

Classes were held at the installation's Homeland Defense Technology Center and consisted of exercises inside the classroom as well as an afternoon outside for crucial practical application exercises.

Team members learned to properly eliminate and extinguish the threat of fire using both a fire extinguisher and fire hoses. They also trained for search and recovery of a fire victim in a building.

Picatinny Garrison Commander, Lt. Col. John P. Stack said the training is "one prime example of what is right for the country ... of how we prepare to help serve our country."

CERT was developed and implemented in 1985 by the Los Angeles City Fire Department as a way to help citizens help their community in times of need when disaster overwhelms immediate response capability.

CERT members not only assist in disaster response, but also help with day-to-day activities such as crowd control at parades or even changing batteries in smoke detectors for the elderly.

Jackie Barnum, one of the 25 graduates, serves as an information technology specialist

for the Homeland Defense team at Picatinny.

Barnum said that the course was a great refresher for her, because she is an emergency medical technician.

She also said that Picatinny leadership provided great support in allowing the 25 volunteers to take time from their daily duties to attend the classes.

The Picatinny team will act as members of the Morris County CERT program as they are now certified and ready to respond to the needs of the community.

The team could be contacted in the event of an emergency through the e-notify system, which was launched earlier this year. E-notify is a mass-messaging system, similar to that used in schools, to notify subscribers of emergency information.