Last week, my wife and I attended the CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) class held at the[Idyllwild] Fire Department and led by Captain Mark LaMont.
The concept of CERT, which is a FEMA program, is to have available a trained citizen corp of first responders in a disaster, recognizing that professional responders may be stretched too thin to help everyone who may be affected.
This was my second CERT class and the Idyllwild class was excellent in presenting a real-life disaster situation our class had to overcome. The practical lessons we learned benefitted us personally and will benefit this community “when” a disaster occurs.
Numerous fire department personnel gave of their time to instruct our class.
To date, the fire department has graduated 121 individuals. We highly recommend this program to all Idyllwild residents and thank Captain Mark and his staff for the practical and informative class that was presented.
Please call the fire department and ask to be added to the list for a future CERT program. It may help save you and your family, as well as your neighbors, when disaster strikes.
Mike and Becky Andelson
Idyllwild and Indian Wells
