UPCOMING EVENTS

As part of our preparedness as CERTs we find ways to maintain our skills and readiness through a variety of methods including classrooms, drills, volunteer activities and online training. Below are many of the options currently available to Los Altos CERT members.

There was a County-Wide CERT Skills Day on Saturday, January 21 from 8am to 2pm at the Quinlan Community Center in Cupertino. The skills training included medical, search and rescue, Incident Commend System, and Radio communication. In attendance where over 200 CERT people and almost as many support people including trainers, “patients”, guides, County personnel, and others . The result was a very successful day and we highly recommend all CERTs attend these events.

There are various ongoing classes focused on the Los Altos CERT community to help us stay current. Some of the offerings are “How to Complete a PSA Form,” “Radio Communications for BATs and CERTs,” “Preparedness & Response for BATs, CERTs, and Hams.” Please check the Resilient Los Altos Calendar of Events website to register and view current offering and dates.

And if you have completed CERT training in the last few years , please register in the Resilient Los Altos Member Data Base so you ensure you informed and are part of our emergency prepared City.

Make Sure You’re Notified in the Event of an Emergency

Los Altos PREPARES Program will perform an AlertSCC test on randomly selected neighborhoods within Los Altos. If you don’t receive a message, check community.zonehaven.com to find your zone and check your neighborhood’s status.

FEMA and Online Courses

Once you have completed the Basic CERT Training course, you can consider these additional classes and training to supplement your knowledge and maintain your CERT certification.

IS-317: Introduction to Community Emergency Response Teams (2 hours credit)
IS-100.C: Introduction to Incident Command System
IS-200.C: Basic Incident Command System for Initial Response
IS-315.A: CERT and the Incident Command System
IS-700.B: An Introduction to the National Incident Management System (NIMS)
IS-800.C: National Response Framework, An Introduction
Cal OES Hazardous Materials Training

Drills

Neighborhood drills were back in person in 2022 and more will be held in 2023. Last year the first drill was held successfully March 19th with 20 people participating at the Los Altos Community. The second drill was held May 21st from 9:30am to 12:00pm at Toyan Farms in south Los Altos with over thirty participants. All CERTs are encouraged to attend other neighborhood drills to gain experience and keep your skills current. The lastt drill was held on Saturday, August 13. If you have not participated, please sign up here. We would like to make sure you are getting the latest information. The way to make sure that happens is to please fill out a short form at https://forms.gle/bnaPMyc4zCqCmw1Z8

Volunteer Opportunities

The City of Los Altos is requesting CERT volunteer support for future events. Each CERT will be teamed with a ham to provide additional eyes & ears for the event and respond (within their training, capabilities and scene safety) to an incident until professional responders (SCCFD and LAPD) can take over. Those events will be posted as they near. Volunteer CERTs will receive day-of swearing in for DSW coverage, if you don’t already have Los Altos DSW. You will need your vest and ID badge, but no helmet or backpack. Specific detailed information will be provided to volunteers.

These are important opportunities for Los Altos CERTs to show our City officials that we are ready to support their requests for help. And it’s let’s us train in a live drill without the emergency.