The Incident Command System (ICS) is part of the National Incident Management System (NIMS), which is a framework developed by FEMA in order to facilitate a multi-agency response to minor and major disasters.
NIMS/ICS is required by many professional first response agencies in order to ensure an effective response and to maintain NIMS compliance. ICS courses are also required for various levels within our CERT program. Much of NIMS/ICS training can be taken online, complete with a printable certificate upon completion of the course. Students will need to register for a FEMA SID number if they don’t have one already (it’s free). Links to the courses can be found below.
Amateur radio, or ham, can be a critical component of disaster response operations. We encourage all emergency response personnel and CERT volunteers to become certified as ham radio operators. For those interested in developing their ham radio skills further, C.A.A. EMCOMM is an auxiliary to IMOS and focuses on communications. Interested CERTs have the ability to become cross-trained as EMCOMM CERTs.
C.A.A. CERT staffs certified CERT Instructors. Our instructors are available to train any one of the individual sections of the CERT Basic Training, or conduct an entire Basic Training for interested businesses, agencies, and the community. All C.A.A. CERT Instructors are part of the Training Solutions International CERT Instructor Cadre. Becoming a CERT Instructor isn’t easy, Instructors are held to very high standards. But being an Instructor can be very rewarding and provides an opportunity to pass on skills and knowledge to new CERTs and even other CERT programs.
All CERTs go through a Basic CERT Training (called Basic Disaster Academy) that is comprised of modules from both the 2012 and 2019 Basic CERT courses, and focuses on topics relevant to disaster response. Basic Disaster Academy culminates in participation in a mock disaster drill where all the skills are put together in one exercise.
Basic Training classes are usually held at least once per year, in either the Spring or Fall. Basic Training is often conducted jointly with the Lane Community College Campus CERT program. Basic Training is usually announced a few weeks in advance, but does not follow a set schedule. Recruits can join the program and begin attending activities and training prior to completing Basic Training.
Basic Disaster Academy includes modules on:
CERT primarily wears only Red T-shirts with regular street clothes as their uniform, but when in full uniform they wear tops in Forest Green over their Red T-shirts and Black pants (Variant of Color Type 6). Uniforms commonly worn by CERT include:
CERT Service Uniform Class B
CERT Service Uniform Class C
Administrative Uniform with Red Polo and Black Pants Class C
CERT Service Uniform Class D (Standard uniform for most CERT activities)
CERT units are deployable, but consist primarily of community volunteers rather than Rated personnel, so they typically require Type 0 or greater hygiene and appearance requirements. CERT hygiene requirements include the stipulation that hair and facial hair must be practical for disaster response type activities and any CERT in a role that requires a mask or respirator must be clean shaven.
Type 3 or greater hygiene and appearance requirements is typically required for any Rated personnel assigned to the CERT program.
