Ferndale

Fire Dept. seeks volunteers for emergency response team

By Jeremy Selweski
C & G Staff Writer

FERNDALE — Anyone willing to help out the Ferndale Fire Department in the event of an emergency is being welcomed with open arms into its new citizen volunteer group.

The department recently organized its own Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) to supplement its services for Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge and Royal Oak Township. Fire Chief Kevin Sullivan noted that the team has already held a couple of introductory meetings and signed up about 20 volunteers, but he is hoping to amass at least 30 members.

“We’re using the CERT program as an option to augment our fire department under certain circumstances,” he explained. “Anytime that a situation is beyond the scope of what we can handle, this team will really help to improve our services. When an emergency strikes, we want to make sure that our full-time, professionally trained firefighters are not stuck doing little jobs and can get to more important matters instead.”

Sullivan described CERT teams as the fire department equivalent of police auxiliary squads. In Ferndale, the team would primarily be utilized during emergency situations in which the safety of the public is at risk, such as natural disasters and large-scale fires. It would also be used to provide assistance at big community events such as the Woodward Dream Cruise, Ferndale Pride or the DIY Street Fair.

But as Sullivan emphasized, no prior emergency response training is necessary to join the CERT team. The only requirement to participate is that all volunteers must pass a police background check. Most CERT team members are at least 18 years of age, although the Fire Department will make some exceptions on a case-by-case basis. Beyond that, even residents who are not capable of performing physically strenuous tasks can provide support in other ways.

“We won’t be turning any volunteers away,” Sullivan said. “Anyone who is interested in volunteering, we will have work for them to do. There have been a great variety of people who have come out so far. Many of them already have experience in this field, but some of them don’t. We will provide our volunteers with all the training that they’ll need.”

This training will supply CERT team members with basic skills in the areas of first-aid, CPR and medical care, as well as light search and rescue, and simple firefighting. It will also educate them about what to expect during a major disaster, with a focus on good decision making skills, doing the greatest good for the largest number of people and providing immediate help to victims until professional services arrive.

According to Fire Marshal Brian Batten, “Getting help from the public is key, but we don’t want to just send people out there with no system in place. The basis of a CERT team is that when an emergency occurs, volunteers will start out at their own home, make sure their family is safe and secure, then branch out to the rest of the neighborhood. With all the cutbacks that communities have faced across the country, public service agencies no longer have the manpower or resources to handle large-scale emergencies on their own.”

The CERT team concept was first developed and implemented by the Los Angeles City Fire Department in 1985. Since that time, communities in 28 states and Puerto Rico have conducted their own CERT training. The teams are funded by grants through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

In Ferndale, the need to establish a CERT program was underscored last year when the Fire Department found itself in need of extra assistance in the wake of local emergencies, namely the July heat wave and the September wind storm, both of which caused widespread power outages. Batten pointed out that on a national level, many cities have started CERT teams in recent years due to the increase in such natural disasters as hurricanes, tornados, floods and wildfires.

“Tragedies like Hurricane Katrina showed people the harsh reality that in the event of an emergency, your community will probably be stranded out there on its own for at least the first 72 hours to one week,” he said. “That’s why I think getting a CERT team in place in Ferndale is a very important step. These volunteers won’t be doing any major firefighting or EMS work for us, but they can certainly help augment our staffing and provide additional support for residents in need.”

To volunteer for the Ferndale CERT team or to find out more information, send emails to ferndalecert@ferndalefirerescue.org or call (248) 546-2510.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Jeremy Selweski at jSelweski@candgnews.com or at (586)218-5004.