These are my notes from tonight’s training of CERT. Any misinformation or inaccurate information is the fault of the note taker.

Size up:

1-3-ready or Gascon:

1. Gather the facts (time a day, type of building, regular use).

• What type of structures or involved, school, home, shopping center?
• What kind of terrain is involved?
• Is a structure occupied? If so, by how many people?
• Is a specific considerations i.e. children, elderly or hospital.
• Will weather conditions influence your safety? How?
• Will weather conditions affect the search and rescue situation? How?
• Or homeless materials involved?

2. Assess damage:

• Take a lap around the building to look for external damage to see if it looks safe to be a light damage or moderate damage that would permit entry.
• If you do enter the building what special requirements are needed?
• Have the facts of initial damage assessment been communicated to the appropriate personnel? You can describe the sides of the building was being in the front be right side the building C backside the building D left-sided building like the time of a clock with EA is in the 12 o’clock position
• If damages light: if there’s only superficial a cosmetic damage or minor damage to interior contents. Then the CERT team can locate treat airway major bleeding and. This might be a good location for triage center.
• Damages moderate: visible signs of damage, cracks in the wall, major surfaces damage to interior content, building is on its foundation. CERT mission is to locate; treat airway, major bleeding, and shock and evacuate. Continue size up while minimizing the number of rescues in time spent inside structure.
• Damages heavy: partial or total collapse, tilting, obvious structural stability, building off its foundation. Heavy smoker fire, hazardous materials and sides, gas leaks, rising on moving water)
• The CERT team is to secure the building perimeter and one others of the danger in entering the building. Do not enter a heavy damage building under any circumstances
• In assessing damage CERT must consider probable levels of damage based on the type and age of construction. Listen for freaking or groaning if it is unstable and should not be entered.

3. consider probabilities:

• Is a situation stable?
• Is there great risk or potential for more disaster that will impact personal safety? If so what type of risks?
• What else could go wrong?
• Or lawn chemicals, paints or other potentially sat hazardous material stored within the structure? Where are they?
• As a spotter needed to look for potential movement the collapse?

4-6 – AEM

4. assess your situation:

• What resources are available with which you can attempt the search and rescue mission Mark
• What equipment is available?
• How many traits CERT members are available?
• Who lives and works in the area in which I was really available? What skills and hobbies can help in the rescue operations?
• What and where is equipment located that may be needed
• What tools are available to be used for lifting moving or cutting disaster debris?

5. establish priorities:

• Can the search and rescue be safely attempted by CERT members? If no, don’t attempt it.
• There may be other more pressing needs of the moment?
• Removing or mitigating known hazards must be completed before teams can begin a search.

6. make a decision:

• Deploy the available sources to whether do the most good while maintaining an adequate margin of safety.
• Priorities are based on safety of CERT members, life safety for victims and others, protection of the environment and protection of property.

7-9 fire – devote

7. Develop a plan of action:

• Determine how personnel and other resources should be deployed.
• When search and rescue operations are required is complex enough that a written plan of some type will be important. It should establish priorities and decisions; document responding agencies; provide documentation for certain overall operation. Keep notes as you develop your action plan. Also document any added changes when new information comes in.

8. Take action:

• Put the plan to affect

9. Evaluate your progress and communicate to your team.

• Continually size of the situation to identify changes in scope of the problem, safety risks, resource availability.
• Those of search and rescue: save the most amount of people in the shortest amount of time.
• Call out for the walking wounded to come out first. Call out and have them come to you.
• It’s a continue process of search and rescue.

Conducting interior and exterior search operations:

• CERT members will inspect the area assigned by the CERT incident commander. Your search — techniques will be based on the size up and locating the victims.
• Structural voids could be
• Pancake void where multiple floors drop at each other.
• Lien to avoid. Well wall or ceiling might fall closing part of the room.
• The void where roof might fall in and thus cut off to sections of the room. A void: is an area where someone might be trapped. MIA present horrible wall or roof that has fallen down blocking point of the room or a child has hidden within a small area. Examples of this might be hiding under his desk,
• Talk to bystanders to find out potential victims and strongest area of entrapment. This might include how many people work in the building? Building layout? What have you seen or heard etc.? Be aware that bystanders may be confused by the event so there information may be accurate.
• Get in the facts:
• Specific safety considerations:
• If it takes a very long time for rescues, rotate your teams to give them a break.

Search markings:

• When you approach a building you will mark the front door where the wall next to the door the following way before entering the building you will do one half of an X. The second line of the X will be filled in once you exit the building. The X will have the following information.
• The V section of the X (the 12 o’clock position) is going to have the date, time you entered the building.
• The left > (9 o’clock position) will have the CERT IDs of those entering the building.
• The right< (3 o’clock position) document the area for in the list of who is still in the building.
• Also indicate the type of damage or continued alerts such as snakes in the River water etc.
• The upside down V (6 o’clock position is going to be the list of victims. For this reason you want a paper etc. you can write things on and tape it wall – four
• You label personnel by the following: L represents living victims and D represents dead victims. Mark on the interior doors the number of individual victims per room. And on the front door document the total number of victims

Search mythology:

• As you enter a building, call out to the victims to come to you. Speak in short sentences and looked directly at them. Tell them to wait outside
• When you find somebody, asked them if there are other potential victims in the building?
• Be aware that the victim may be experiencing shock and confusion.
• You need to be wearing safety equipment at all times hardhat, best, face mask and goggles etc.
• You’ll want to have your flashlight already turned on so you can avoid any possible sparks.
• You can either search from top to bottom or bottom to top.
• Select a consistent pattern a story on the left or the right and search the building in that sequence from beginning to end. This should always be two people together during a search. One is to keep an eye out potential dangers.
• Doing a search you will want to stop frequently to listen. Listen for such things as tapping voices will movement.
• You want to searcher room with multiple lies to see the areas from different perspectives. Sometimes a two member team will do opposite directions in a room to see if they find anything different. In your kit include pencils and tape to keep a record of your victims and discoveries. This can also help you narrow down the location of the victim.
• Record everything that is done

Exterior search:

• Set search patterns between sources according to visibility.
• Have each search team overlap each other so nothing is missed.
• Search the straight line if possible.
• Mark the doors that have been searched.
• Set up some type of grid. Sometimes you will have long to searchers that do not have any organized structure. You might be able to organize them to create a more efficient search.

Conducting Rescue operations:

• You may need to move objects and debris from the area with the victim is to provide a safe environment. You may need to remove the same to provide transportation access.
• You move the victim if their life is in danger.
• On the initial search and rescue you do quick triage by checking for the three killers, airway obstruction, major bleeding, and shock. We move victims to safety as quickly as possible.
• Know your limitations. Never enter an unstable structure.
• Follow safety procedures: work in pairs; triage and treat only and lightly damaged buildings.
• In moderate damaged buildings triage and remove the victim as quickly as possible.

Leveraging and cribbing:

• The falcon is the point of the letter that will rest again some object to press against to give leverage. The falcon needs to be in a stationary position. We want to have the falcon as close to the heavy object as you can. Then you put the bar under the object and the lengthier of the pole on the opposite side of the group provide extra leverage power. Mel: I realize that rebar would make a great poll for wedging something you lift an inch and crib an inch. Box cribbing is stable but requires material that is uniform size
• You really can’t do evacuations that require a lever in the initial rescue. You notify the person that you will be back to continue the search. During that search start collecting materials will help you create cribbing (latticework to lift heavy objects) to rescue the initial victim. You’ll want to document where that person is located. Even leg being caught under an object is your point of entry to insert a lever.
• Was the victim is rescued return the heavy object back to its original position by removing the cribbing. Kneepads can be an important addition to your attire.
• One person should oversee the cribbing and determine where an item should be lifted. You can put it in materials next to the body part captured to help relieve pressure in that area.

Removing victims:

• If victims can extract themselves that’s best. They may be weaker than they realized.
• Lift by bending at the knees. Keep your back straight.
• Carry the load close to your body.
• When rescuing someone you can do so by carrying them on a blanket. You can roll up the blanket around a pencil or broomstick and it can create handles to help carry the victim.
• We have multiple people lifting the victim with the blanket if you cross each other’s arms and give you more strength in carrying the victim.
• You should not use lifts or drags when victim has a hand or a spinal injury is suspected. Doors and tables may need to act as a stretcher and to keep their body particular neck and head extremely secure.
• A one person arm carry: if the victim is small the CERT can carry the victim away. You will need to consider how far you need to carry that person.
• Pack strap carry. Is when you loop someone’s arms are crossed yours front and Karen in that way you will need to lean forward so that the victim’s feet were clear the floor not drag.
• Two-person carry: A persons top half of the body weighs more than the bottom. During a rescue, squat with your back straight when you are lifting somebody. Across the chest and use their wrists to act as handles for you to look them up. The person carrying the legs should hold the legs by the need. The two measures should stand simultaneously giving back straight and lifting the legs.
• Chair carry: two rescuers can use a chair. Tilt the chair back when it’s occupied so that the person in the front can pick up the legs as the person in the back holds behind the chair.
• Blanket carry: position a blanket next to the victim roll up one side of the blanket. Press the rolled side against on the victim’s body. As a group have people lift the side of the body in unison. Place the blanket under them. Then tilt the other side of the body. If there is a neck injury or spinal injury; one CERT members should be dedicated to keeping the head and neck aligned to the body. Leader is the one controlling the head. They call out directions for lift together. Remember a broom or pencils rolled in the blanket can act as handholds. Besides blankets you can use carpets or folded tables.
• Blanket drag: Wrap as the blanket around victim and dragged him/her across the floor. If you don’t have access to a blanket you could ask someone by their feet or by holding underneath their armpits.