By Gary Lloyd
TRUSSVILLE — Thursday’s Trussville Public Safety Committee meeting will focus on a community emergency response team.
The public meeting will be at 7 p.m. at the Trussville Fire and Rescue Administrative Building on Cherokee Drive.
One item on the agenda includes presenting a community emergency response team course that 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, members of the response team can assist others in their neighborhood or workplace following an event in which professional responders are not immediately available to help. Team members are encouraged to support emergency response agencies by taking a more active role in emergency preparedness projects in their community.
The other item on tonight’s agenda is the development of a basic disaster preparedness class that covers home safety, how to prepare for a disaster and what actions to take after an event.
Nine three-hour training modules will be held at the Trussville Civic Center beginning in 2014. The first module is Jan. 9, 2014, and will focus on disaster preparedness. Other modules each week after that focus on fire safety and utility controls, disaster medical operations (two parts), light search and rescue operations, CERT organization, disaster psychology, terrorism andCERT operations, and graduation. All modules must be completed to graduate.
To enroll for the CERT course, email John Griscom at jgriscom@charter.net by Dec. 20.
A total of 17 homes were totally destroyed in the Pilgrims Rest subdivision in Trussville by an EF-3 tornado in the wee hours of Jan. 23, 2012. Seven were severely damaged and 31 were moderately damaged. In the nearby Legacy neighborhood, two homes were severely damaged, 18 moderately damaged and seven had minor damage.
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.