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Peachtree City seeks emergency volunteers

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

Peachtree City police are looking for community-minded volunteers who want to help citizens after natural disasters and other similar scenarios.

The department is selecting a group of about 25 people to become its first-ever Certified Emergency Response Team beginning Sept. 13. The classes, which will meet Thursday nights for two and a half hours, will cover evaluating injuries, search and rescue operations, fire suppression with an extinguisher, basic first aid and other topics, said Capt. Stan Pye of the Peachtree City Police Department.

“It allows us to redirect our resources,” Pye said, noting that the CERT team will dramatically cut the time necessary to do a house to house search in a particular area.

CERT members will be issued a kit with supplies including a green helmet and green vest so they can easily be identified by other members of the public. This can particularly be helpful when CERT members conduct damage assessments to be reported to the city’s emergency operations center when disasters occur, Pye said.

The police department has two specially equipped trailers for CERT teams, including among other items chainsaws that can be used to help clear fallen trees from roads. And yes, CERT members will receive special training on how to use the chainsaws, Pye added.

The trailers also have several electrical generators which could come in handy if there is ever a widespread electrical outage that lasts for several days, Pye said. The generator would be hooked up to the home of a CERT member, which would then become a community gathering place for the neighborhood and surrounding area, Pye said.

Establishing that emergency power location would allow residents to have a place, such as a garage refrigerator, to have a place to keep their refrigerated medications and baby formula and get ice, Pye noted. The homes would also be used as a place for area residents to cool off, he added.

Much of the CERT training will be conducted by the Peachtree City Fire Department, Pye said. Although the team would be trained for significant disasters, some of the training would lend itself well to other needs, such as search and rescue operations for missing persons calls, Pye said.

The American Red Cross will also conduct some of the training, particularly when it comes to the psychology involved in assisting persons in disaster situations “because of the emotions you might see or be exposed to,” Pye said.

The CERT program is funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and there is no cost to Peachtree City at all, Pye said. Peachtree City is the second police department in the state to offer the program.

The training is also open to residents of Fulton and Coweta counties, Pye said. Classes can also be offered for local businesses who are willing to get a group together to participate, Pye said.

Even if a participant misses a class or two, they can make it up the next time the class series is offered, Pye said. This time, the department will accept 25 applicants, but there are enough supplies to train up to 100 people, he added.

The deadline to apply is Tuesday, Sept. 6.

Graduates of the program will need to take refresher courses each year to maintain their certification, Pye said.

Applications for the program are located at the Peachtree City Library, City Hall and the police department. The minimum age for the program is 18 years old, and a very limited criminal background check will be performed also, Pye said.

“You don’t have to have a spotless background by any means,” Pye said.