• have enough supplies for a minimum of 72 hours up to an entire month for all family members, including pets?
• know how to turn off the gas and/or power?
• know how to apply first aid?
• know how to organize spontaneous resources to affect rescue?
• understand how to deal with the psychological affects of trauma?

It is important to know, if a major disaster occurs, professional first responders will likely be overwhelmed! They will prioritize major incidents such as large fires and grave public safety. That is why you must be prepared to take care of yourself. This reality means that you are the first responder and must learn the critical life-saving skills needed to mitigate the long-term effects of disaster.

The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program educates volunteers about disaster preparedness for the 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. CERT offers a consistent, nationwide approach to volunteer training and organization that professional responders can rely on during disaster situations, allowing them to focus on more complex tasks.

Although CERT is a national program, it is sponsored and managed locally, adhering to national (FEMA) standards but tailored to each jurisdiction. Allen CERT is sponsored by, and operates under, the Allen Fire Department. The program has trained more than 200 residents of Allen since 2005 and currently has an active membership of more than 160 trained responders.

When called upon, Allen CERT will organize and respond to augment professional first responders to help mitigate the long term effects of a disaster and/or gather intelligence to aid in their response. In addition to disaster response, we also participate in community events in staff roles (e.g., traffic, security, communications) or public information for education and recruitment.