What is CERT?
The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program educates people about the hazards that affect their communities and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, personal preparedness, and disaster medical operations. People who go through CERT training have a better understanding of the potential threats to their home, workplace and community and can take the right steps to lessen the effects of these hazards on themselves, their homes or workplace.
If a disaster happens that overwhelms local response capability, CERT members can apply the training learned in the classroom and during exercises to give critical support to their family, loved ones, neighbors or associates in their immediate area until help arrives. When help does arrive, CERTs provide useful information to responders and support their efforts, as directed, at the disaster site. CERT members can also assist with non-emergency projects that improve the safety of the community.
​
Following a major disaster in the Napa Valley, first responders who provide emergency services will not always be able to meet the immediate demand for these services. The high number of victims, communication failures and road blockages will prevent people from accessing emergency services they have come to expect at a moment's notice. Individuals will need to rely on themselves in order to meet their immediate lifesaving and life sustaining needs.
The way to change the world is through individual responsibility and taking local action in your own community.
​
Jeff Bridges
Our Mission
Our mission, as the Berryessa CERT team, is to prepare the citizens of the Lake Berryessa area to become self-sufficient during and after a major emergency or disaster. Berryessa CERT members participate as an organized volunteer emergency response team that supplements Napa County first responders in times of disaster and/or emergency situations.
Benefits of CERT
Disaster preparedness and hazard mitigation can minimize the effects of a disaster and facilitate recovery. The benefits of this program are numerous and invaluable. It will increase Napa County’s overall level of disaster readiness, provide emergency skills that people will use in day-to-day activities and emergencies, increase community pride and improve the quality of life for the people of the Lake Berryessa area.