The Warrick County Emergency Management Agency is teaching a CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) Training class beginning Feb. 6. Classes will be held from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. and will run weekly through April 10, with no classes meeting the week of Spring Break. The CERT class covers disaster preparedness, fire safety, disaster medical operations, light search and rescue, disaster psychology, terrorism, and more.

CERT members play an integral role in disaster and large-scale response situations. If a disastrous event overwhelms or delays the community’s professional response, CERT members can assist others by applying the basic response and organizational skills that they learned during training. These skills can help save and sustain lives following a disaster until help arrives. CERT skills also apply to daily emergencies.

CERT members maintain and refine their skills by participating in exercises and activities. They can attend supplemental training opportunities offered by the sponsoring agency and others that further their skills base. Finally, CERT members can volunteer for projects that improve community emergency preparedness.

Find out more and/or sign up by calling the Warrick EMA at 812-897-6178.