Community Emergency Response Team
“Assisting law enforcement and fire service professionals.”
There are over 540,000 citizens currently living in El Paso County, as of 2004. In the event of a major disaster, county law enforcement, fire service and emergency services resources would be stretched
to the limit.
The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office CERT members consist of active and experienced first responders who:
- have prior experience with emergency response
- handle administrative tasks during and after an emergency
- have experience in public education
They come from a diverse background of the population and are proud to serve their fellow citizens. These team members deploy to an incident only under the direction of the Sheriff’s Office/Emergency Services Division.
Candidates must first pass the Sheriff’s Office background check in order to be considered. The commitment for team members can be considerable based on scheduled activities, training, and response.
All members must initially complete a CERT/Citizen class to see what their level of interest might be (click here for a schedule of upcoming classes).
Once completed, potential team members will be interviewed, and are required to complete FEMA’s Basic Incident Command System (IS-195) on-line certification course in order to be considered for a responder, administration or public education position. To register for the course, go to www.fema.gov and click on the Education and Training link at the top of the page. There is no cost for this course.
Advance training opportunities are available for CERT Team members. These training classes will be held on specific dates and have limited attendances. For the year 2006, the class dates and subjects are: 6 May (Emergency Operation Center Operations and El Paso County Emergency Plans); 15 July (Weapons of Mass Destruction); 4 Nov (Space/Satellite Support to Disaster Operations).
Training for the CERT Team is ongoing, either from FEMA’s website, or hands-on training within the county and surrounding communities.
The Emergency Services Division has limited team size to 60 members at this time.
| If you are interested in becoming a CERT member, please contact the Emergency Services Division at (719) 575-8400, M-F MST. |