CERT training teaches Dons how to stay safe in crises

Danny Langhorne
Editor-in-Chief

In November, the Santa Barbara Fire Department approached the administration in forming a teen branch of the Community Emergency Response Team.

It is led by members of the fire department. This semester it is being taught by firemen Matt McBride and Rich Grigouli. “It’s a really good mix of students that represents great aspects of SBHS,” said the program’s coordinator Assistant Principal Dave Meister.

According to McBride the program’s main goal is to train teenagers to help be more prepared in the event of a disaster. He also hopes it will teach them to react safely and do as much good as they can.

The fire department is hoping to create a team of students on campus who can help secure it in the event of a fire or earthquake. Among the tasks they would help with include turning off gas and water mains and assisting in basic first aid. “If we’re overwhelmed because there’s a building collapsed or something, we need you to do the most amount of good in the least amount of time,” Grigouli said to his students recently.

It is a 20 week class that meets on Tuesdays for two hours starting at 2 p.m. Students are able to receive 20 hours of community service for their work. On February 12 the class got some hands-on training when members of the Fire Department came to SBHS to teach students how to properly use fire extinguishers. Under the supervision of the officers students put out fires in a metal container on the senior lawn. In the following week’s class students also learned how to properly check a victim’s airway and breathing. In this particular class they also learned how to turn off the school’s gas mains to prevent a major fire in the event of an earthquake.

The ultimate test of the various skills that they have learned will be used in a school wide disaster drill towards the end of the year. Students will be delegated specific tasks that they would undertake in the event of a real disaster on campus. Mock victims will be spread throughout the campus and it will be the job of CERT students to react to the injuries of each victim.

“The program gives a first hand look at the emergency services and the community and certainly can get students thinking about a future career as an EMT or fire services,” said McBride.

Although the program is looking for interested students to join its class in the fall, McBride said it would be impossible for someone to jump into the program now in time to graduate from the program. CERT is exclusively taught at SBHS, the only school that plans to have one for the near future.

The adult CERT program was developed and implemented by Los Angeles County in 1985. However, it was Whittier Narrows Earthquake of 1987 that alerted emergency services in California of the need to train civilians to respond to disasters.