As we roll into March, the Montgomery County CERT training program continues to roll. We have the largest class ever for the 18-02 Spring class. Folks want what we have to teach, so we are working hard to accommodate the larger than normal class size. Kudos to David Steele and the CERT instructor corps. March also finds us closing the loop on the coms plan for the CERT Go Team, and we will have a lot more to share on that soon. Dave Mroz has been leading the Go Team effort, and he and I have had some great meetings with OEMHS and MCFRS recently to build out our communications. Stay tuned! Lastly, look for announcements soon of a full schedule of Friends and Family CPR/AED classes.  We plan frequent opportunities for you and your loved ones to gain and sharpen life saving CPR skills over the next several months. Watch this space. Greg St. James Community Emergency Response Team (C.E.R.T.)  Program Manager Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service 100 Edison Park Drive Gaithersburg,  MD 20878 240-777-2407

Wow! What a start to the year. We just finished CERT Basic Class 2018-01 on Saturday, February 10th, and a week ago our GoTeam was back in action at the Monroe Street fire. Monroe Street Fire- CERT Members in Action CERT Basic class 18-02 starts on February 28th and runs through Saturday, April 7th. The planning has begun for a Montgomery County hosted CERT Con this June. I\’d like to take a moment to acknowledge the incredible dedication and hard work of our CERT volunteers that make it all possible,  just a partial list includes: Carl Brill- CERT President and Leadership Chris Frechette- CERT VP and Leadership David Steele- CERT Basic Classes Kathee Henning- Teen CERT program Kristen Wear- CERT Basic Classes and Moulage Cynthia Halota- CPR training Dave Mroz- GoTeam Lisa Ackerman- Outreach Tricia Laut- Secretary/Moulage Jay KapLon- Digital/IT Manager Jennifer Hobson-CERVIS, Digital Team, Registrar/HR Gigi Knell- Web Design Ron Pendleton- Treasurer and Logistics Ken Ow- Logistics Gerry Adcock & Maeir Burstyn- Communications Steve Peterson- VERT Operations Ruthie Wills- Member Services- PIMS and Fingerprinting Our fantastic instructor corps I am sure I\’ve left more people out than I remembered to include, but I hope I have given some idea of the tremendous amount of support it takes to bring this CERT program to you. I remain fiercely proud of these women and men, who represent the very best our county offers. Greg St. James Community Emergency Response Team (C.E.R.T.)  Program Manager Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service 100 Edison Park Drive Gaithersburg,  MD 20878 240-777-2407  

Registration is now full for Community Emergency Response Training (CERT) Course #2018-02 will start on Wednesday, February 28, 2018, and wrap up, with a final practical exercise, on Saturday, April 7, 2018. We will take the week of March 25th-April 1st off to observe the Spring holiday break. Classes held twice a week, Wednesday Evenings from 7–9 PM and Saturday mornings from 9 AM–1 PM, at the Public Safety Headquarters (100 Edison Park Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20878). For more information, please contact the MC CERT Registrar @ registrar@montgomerycert.org. Please register below to be on our waitlist for upcoming CERT Basic classes! Powered by Eventbrite

  At 0630 it was 19 degrees with the wind chill peeling an additional five degrees off of that.  The forecast was calling for light snow.  It was still dark. Civil twilight wasn’t for another hour and the prospects of the temperature climbing to anything tolerable were remote, at best. That’s when the dispatch message went out to members of the Montgomery County CERT Go-Team. MCCERT Deployment, Building Fire. This is NOT a drill. Rally point at Brown Station Elementary School, 851 Quince Orchard Blvd, Gaithersburg, MD 20878 Reply ONLY if able to arrive by 0800 & deploy immediately. I had been working on the logistics of this unplanned deployment since just before 0600 and I had only slightly more information than what the team now had in their inboxes.  I knew that there was a residential fire in Gaithersburg and that a temporary shelter had been established at Brown Station.  I knew that the call to deploy the team had come directly from Division Chief Hinde and the request was to support MCFRS by providing survivor assistance so that the frontline units could get back in service.  I had no idea what “survivor assistance” would entail for this event.  I had no idea how many survivors there were.  Or how many there weren’t. For all of the information I didn’t have, the team had less and yet nearly two dozen members of the Go-Team grabbed their bags, ignored the weather report, and started arriving at the elementary school just after sun-up.  By 0800 we had a team assembled and a mission defined by OEMHS and MCFRS: Escorting survivors back into their condos for brief periods to gather whatever essential items they could salvage: medication, documents, car keys, clothes, etc.  Residents had 15 minutes per unit. Our number one priority was a diabetic oncology patient who desperately needed her medication.  Two Go-Team members formed Team Alpha and met with the resident to introduce themselves, explain the situation, and assure her that we’d get her into her unit the second we were cleared, but that we had to wait for the investigators to finish determining the cause of the blaze.  While we were waiting, team member Dan Hennessey led a site survey to familiarize the team with the location and terrain of the area of operation and to see the damage from the exterior.  The fire marshal gave Dan an interior tour of the two heavily-damaged buildings, after which Dan returned to the command center to do a knowledge transfer on what he learned and to inform our team as to what to expect upon gaining entry. After Dan’s briefing, we made adjustments to the plan and team assignments and finalized the approach for the systematic, sequential clearing of four residential buildings starting with 880 and moving to 882, 884, and 886. At approximately 1000 hours, certain residents were cleared for escorted access into 882. We immediately threw away our good plan when residents began to reenter the other three buildings at the same time.  A quick reworking of the plan (again!) and the teams set out to secure four buildings, provide escorts, and inform residents of the overall status of the operation as relayed by OEMHS and MCFRS. The next few hours were pretty uneventful as the five teams dutifully completed their mission by helping residents claim their essential belongings.  This was one of the most professional executions I’ve seen by Montgomery County CERT and I can’t say enough good things about the men and women who came out on that cold morning to assist the community.  The compassion and willingness to do whatever it took to help their neighbors in need was amazing and it did not go unnoticed.  I personally received thank yous to pass along to the team from OEMHS, MCFRS, the fire inspector, the City of Gaithersburg, and Gaithersburg Police. It turns out that building 880 and 882 were a total loss and have been condemned, but the efforts of the Montgomery County Community Emergency Response Team helped make a tragic experience a little less unpleasant for all of those involved, and really showed that Montgomery County CERT, as an organization, has the professionalism and compassion to step up and help those in need, whenever they need it.

Welcome to 2018! Montgomery County CERT has a lot going on as we begin this new year. January 10th marks the first session of our new CERT Basic class (#2018-01).  We will offer CERT Basic twice more before the summer, so keep an eye on this website for sign up information. I was very proud to spend several hours this weekend with our excellent CERT Instructor Corps working on tweaks and improvements to our lesson plans for 2018. It\’s a safe bet that CERT students will get an excellent introduction to emergency skills and preparation this year. I\’m also excited about the incredible line up of monthly guest speakers we are booking in 2018. We begin with a training on \”Narcan\” for our January General Meeting ( 1-11-18 @ 1900 PSHQ) and next month will be a workshop on \”Stop The Bleed\”. More details of monthly and extra training will be announced here as the speakers are confirmed. We will be announcing more Friends and Family CPR/AED classes soon also here on our website. And 2018 will also see Montgomery CERT host CERTCon once again. Stay tuned for more! Be safe, stay warm, and lets make 2018 a great year for Montgomery County CERT! Greg St. James Community Emergency Response Team (C.E.R.T.)  Program Manager Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service 100 Edison Park Drive Gaithersburg,  MD 20878 240-777-2407