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| The Napa Valley C.E.R.T. Program was originated in late 2000 by 5 Napa Valley government agencies who participated in a functional "joint-powers" agreement to provide the F.E.M.A.- based C.E.R.T. program to the citizens & workers of Napa County. The agencies involved are the Napa County O.E.S., the American Canyon Fire Protection District, City of Calistoga O.E.S., the Napa Valley College Public Safety Department and the City of Napa Fire Department. The main goal of the program is to instruct 1500 students in the first 10 years while offering it free to the student. We stress during our instruction that these are the goals needed to survive the first 96 hours after a man-made, natural or technological disaster. Emergency resources will be stretched thin and in some cases, non-existent for hours or even days. Our program describes California as "A Disaster Theme Park" and Napa County lives in the heart of it. We stress the importance of all Training received by our students is based upon making the decision "that provides the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people." 5 instructors developed and implemented the core curriculum and presented the 1st academy in early 2001. The first Sustainment exercise for program graduates was held in early 2002. In mid-2002, the program received a federally-funded grant to purchase much needed instructional equipment to provide for the teaching of 2 simultaneous academies. 2 storage trailers were purchased and were named CERT #1 & #2. These are used as the functional cornerstone of all future training events so courses can be taken on the road wherever the need arises. Summer of 2003 brought upon the 1st Napa Valley CERT sponsored F.E.M.A.-based "Train-The-Trainer" for CERT programs. 26 students from CERT programs all over Northern California were instructed and among those, 12 were Napa Valley graduates who became Assistant Instructors to our program. As of May 2004, the program has trained 500 students in approximately 3 years. The program now provides instruction to audiences in 12 academies a year in 7 locations throughout the county. We also sponsor amateur radio licensing courses through the Silverado Amateur Radio Society, which occurs 3 times a year. June 2004 brought the largest Sustainment exercise we've ever planned. Exercise #8 is titled "Disasterville U.S.A. on Disaster Avenue". This entailed the use of a half-city block slated for destruction as part of a community-housing project. Program graduates who attended operated under the simulation of a major earthquake and the situations they encountered had to be diagnosed and corrected through all of their past training events. Approximately 70 people attended this 6-hour event which also introduced 12 new student instructors to the program. By the end of 2004, the program will have trained 700 students via 28 academies over the last 4 years with Sustainmment Exercise #9 offered before the end of year. We look to expand our graduate teaching cadre to 20 Assistant Instructors to compliment the 6 core instructors and bring on the addition of "Mobile CERT #2", our second instructional trailer to an academy near you. The year 2005 brought many new challenges to the program. We conducted a total of 12 academies adding another 225 students to our graduate listing as well as 4 Sustainment training sessions training 140 graduates in wild land-urban interface preparation, A.R.C.'s first aid/CPR and A.E.D. curriculum, patient extrication from lightly &moderately damaged structures and a flood fight/preparedness course. Who knows what 2007 will lead to?
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Copyright © 2004
Napa Valley Community Emergency Response Teams
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