What if the “big one” hits during the middle of the day, trapping employees and business owners at work for several days?
There are now 38 more people in San Diego County who would know what do during such an event, thanks to an intense three-day emergency training.
Business owners and community representatives from Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach, Point Loma, Clairemont, San Ysidro and Rancho Penasquitos were officially sworn in Oct. 10 by San Diego Fire Rescue Chief Tracy Jarman as members of the Business Emergency Response Training (BERT) team, part of the larger Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) that was formed by the city after the 2003 wildfires.
Mayor Jerry Sanders was on hand for the ceremony and proclaimed Oct. 10 as “San Diego BID Council Day” and “SDG&E Public Safety Day” to honor the program’s two sponsors.
The BERT program is the first of its kind in the county and trained business owners and community leaders in everything from fire suppression to medical operations to search and rescue.
“CERT training positions our neighborhood commercial districts to assume trained leadership in the event of a disaster,” said Gerrie Trussell, community development specialist for the San Diego BID Council, an association that oversees San Diego’s 27 Business Improvement Districts (BIDs).
Trussell came up with the idea to have business owners and leaders trained after thinking about how to become better prepared to help with her daughter’s school.
“It’s not a situation of if, but when, and this training really helped me become better prepared to know what to do,” Trussell said.
Rick Hernandez, senior energy programs advisor with SDG&E, agreed. He works with the BID Council in his regular job at the utility and helped facilitate funding for the partnership.
“Becoming certified enables people to rise to the occasion when disaster hits and help their family, friends and community who may not be as well prepared,” Hernandez said.
Barbara Ayers, CERT program manager, noted that the volunteers are critical during the first hours following a disaster, when emergency services are overwhelmed and communities may be on their own.
“CERT is a positive and realistic approach where trained citizens put out small fires, treat minor medical emergencies such as opening and maintaining airways, controlling bleeding, treating for shock and providing basic medical aid with limited resources,” Ayers said.
Volunteers also learn to search for and rescue victims and learn “cribbing” techniques to help free victims trapped under heavy objects.
“There is a CERT team role for people of all abilities and specialties ” not just medical and rescue volunteers,” Ayers added. “We need people that have good organizational skills, people skills, ham radio operators and other abilities as well.”
For more information, visit www.CertSanDiego.org, e-mail [email protected] or call (619) 533-3075.