New members sought for emergency response

Franklin County Department of Emergency Services is planning training sessions to introduce the Citizens Emergency Response program to interested new members. This will be the fifth class to form in the county.

The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program educates people about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations. Using the training learned in the classroom and during exercises, CERT members can assist others in their neighborhood or workplace following an event when professional responders are not immediately available to help. CERT members also are encouraged to support emergency response agencies by taking a more active role in emergency preparedness projects in their community. CERT is an agency of the Citizens Corp.

Franklin County currently has over 100 CERT members and at 7 p.m. Nov. 16 a meeting will be held to begin the next training session for volunteers. The training will be held at 370 New York Ave. in the Letterkenny Industrial Park. Upon successful completion of the course attendees will be issued disaster items including a back pack with the necessities needed during a disaster incident.

Training will be conducted by current CERT members as well as the Franklin County Operations and Training Officer.

For information contact John Hopkins at the Emergency Operations Center at 717-264- 2818.