Culver City Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)

Welcome to the official page of the City of Culver City CERT!

The City of Culver City Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program was created by the Culver City Fire Department in 1997 and is designed to educate and train volunteers in basic disaster response skills. CERT members may be activated to assist with events, large scale incidents, or wide-spread disasters.

The mission of the CERT program is to rapidly and effectively respond as a team to assist local responders, communities, private agencies, and/or state and federal agencies in a large-scale disaster or planned event. CERT members are trained to enhance the capabilities of Culver City’s disaster response by providing essential volunteer support when required.

Qualifications

To be a part of Culver City CERT you must:

• Live or work within Culver City.
• Be at least 16 years old or older.

Training

There are two parts to CERT training, first a 12-hour online course provided by the University of Utah, and second, a ~16 hour in-person follow up training. The online course training is fully self-paced and can be conducted at any time. In-person classes are conducted twice a year, once in the spring, and once in the fall.

Topics Include:

• Disaster Preparedness
• Team Organization
• Disaster Medical Operations
• Disaster Psychology
• Fire Safety
• Utility Control
• Light Search & Rescue
• Triage

CERT Involvement Options

There Culver City CERT provides two options for those wishing to become a CERT member. One provides the basic training and a certificate of completion; the other provides the ability to be deployed by the city when needed on specific incidents. An overview of the requirements for each option is located below.

Basic Training (Non-Deployable)

• Requires an online and in-person CERT course.

Deployment Team (Advanced Training - Deployable)

• Requires an online and in-person CERT course.
• Requires registration as a Disaster Service Worker (DSW) with the City of Culver City.
• Requires a Live Scan background check.
• Requires a DMV driving record check.
• Requires annual training, drills, and event commitments.
• Requires sign-up with the City’s Everbridge Notification System.
  
  

Activation

In the event of a major emergency, the Culver City Fire Department can “activate” Deployment Team CERT members to assist the city when needed. The activation of CERT is contingent upon the impact of disaster and the availability of first responders. CERT Members are never to self-activate or conduct operations they are not trained to complete.

Sign-Up Process

To become a CERT member the following must be completed:  

• Set-up an account on this Galaxy Digital site.
• Click “Sign Up” at the top of this page to get started.
• Sign-up for free online CERT training
• Once online training is complete, you may sign up for in-person training on the Opportunities page.

You will be asked to upload your online course certificate upon registration for the in-person skills training.