Kerr County seeking CERT volunteers

Kerr County will be conducting a recruitment day event on the weekend of October 8-10 for anyone interested in becoming a part of the county’s Community Response Team. Kerr County’s Emergency Management Coordinator Dub Thomas said that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has caused their roster to dwindle somewhat in numbers, and the county is really wanting to “build it back up.”

CERT members are the first to arrive and provide immediate assistance to their neighbors right after a disaster occurs by doing damage assessments valuable for triage purposes prior to emergency services’ arrival. CERT volunteers also tackle the logistics of organizing other volunteers, distribution of food, water and emergency resources and take on other essential tasks to “help others around them in their time of need.”

Anyone interested in becoming a CERT member must be at least 18 years of age, have no criminal history and complete the CERT Basic Training Course. The course covers topics such as: disaster preparedness, fire safety and utility controls, disaster medical operations, light search and rescue operations, CERT organization, disaster psychology, terrorism and more.

The upcoming CERT recruitment day will begin on October 8, from 10 a.m. to noon, in the Kerr County Sheriff’s Office Training Room which is located at 400 Clearwater Paseo. Applications are available at www.co.kerr.tx.us/sheriff/cert. For additional questions call (830) 896-1216 during regular business hours.