Consider CERT Training

Welcome to the first edition of quarterly CERT news. In Warren County, Ohio we are fortunate to have volunteers staff two CERT teams, one from the City of Mason and the other from Warren County. Members bring an enormous amount of expertise and professional experience to both teams. Backgrounds include firefighters/paramedics, police officers, FEMA employees, health care workers, nurses, amateur radio operators, IT professionals, public assistance professionals, authors and security specialist, along with a wide diversity from rural and metropolitan areas.

Curious about what to do in an emergency? Maybe CERT is for you. We frequently hear about being prepared but exactly what does that mean? Prepared for what? Numerous situations can rapidly develop into an emergency and suddenly you’re overwhelmed. Answers to what, when, where and why about preparedness are constantly refreshed during training.

CERT does not make you a professional responder but training will teach you a great deal about how to safety handle many emergencies prior to the arrival of professionally trained personnel.

Patrick Palmer, President

patrickcpalmer@gmail.com

513-256-1501 C

Website

Mason C.E.R.T. Meetings

3rd Tuesday, 6:30 PM

Mason Municipal Center,

6000 Mason-Montgomery

Rd., Mason, Ohio 45040

Curtis Helton, President

wcohcert@gmail.com

(513) 465-7601 C

Website

WC CERT Meetings

4th Tuesday (unless other-

wise noted) 6:30 PM

520 Justice Drive, Lebanon

Ohio 45036 (Lower level)

-------------------------------------

Newsletter

Lee Hite

NewsAtCERT@gmail.com

513-240-1129 C

Warren County Amateur

Radio Association

Warren County Mounted

Search Team

Warren County Emergency

Management Agency

Announcing CERT Basic Training

When: 3 Hours/Every Thursday

February 1, 8, 15 & 22, 2018, 6–9 PM

Saturday, Feb. 24, 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM

Lunch provided and no cost for training

Where: Warren County Board of Elections Building

520 Justice Dr., Lebanon, Ohio 45036 (Lower level)

Register here: www.wcohcert.org

Professional responders may be delayed in times of a natural or man made emergency. Using the training learned in the classroom and during exercises, you can help your family, your neighbors and your community when disaster strikes. CERT members are also encouraged to support emergency response agencies by taking a more active role in emergency preparedness projects in their community.

MASON CERT

WC– CERT

PARTNERS

R E P O R T

A story, an event or your thoughts . . .

Say Something!

NEWSLETTER CERT in Warren County, Ohio

Community Emergency Response Teams

Vol. 1 Issue 1 January – 2018

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CERT in Warren County, Ohio

When To Deploy

Startled by the fire alarm on January 2, 2018 at the Mason Library, three CERT members were setting up emergency response displays announcing our February training classes. Clearly this alarm was a situation where we needed to quickly deploy our skills.

We learned the flow alarm for the stand pipe supplying the fire suppression system caused the alert. Huge amounts of water gushed from the ceiling caused by a frozen sprinkler head supply line. The prior evening temperatures reached –5°F.

Hundreds of books were already saturated. Pat Palmer, Curtis Helton and Lee Hite assisted in shutting off the stand pipe, disconnected electrical appliances from floor receptacles and immediately began pushing large amounts of water out the front door.

The Mason fire department arrived and began their evaluation and assistance.

Naturally the entrance to the library quickly became a skating rink when water flowed onto the cold concrete. We quickly salted the entrance and installed boundary caution tape borrowed from our display. One lady attempting to enter the front door had already fallen on the ice.

Fast response from the insurance adjustor allowed the recovery process to begin immediately. As we were finishing, the adjustor and library manager said to us, “Who are you folks again and how did you know to do what you did so quickly?” We said, “That’s what the display cases are all about!”

Thanks to past president, Tim Mullis, we were in the right place at the right time.

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From the City of Mason CERT President

Greetings from the desk of Mason CERT,

Tim Mullis (Past President) has passed the baton to me and I’m ready to

take off running. The team has a great track record of improvements

from each of the previous leaders and I hope to continue that trend.

Established in 2006, David Astles organized the grass roots

organization and created the glue that developed into an independent

organization. Training was a top priority and through David’s leadership

we developed team members who could teach Basic CERT to new

members.

Michael Kramer, stepped up next to lead the team and he took on the

role of developing and increasing our ability to communicate in the event

of a call-out. Under Michael’s drive we provided training for members of the team to obtain

their HAM radio license. This was a huge win as we became a much more valuable asset

to the community.

Tim Mullis was the next leader to further drive the education piece as well as further bolster

the team’s numbers. Through his guidance the team is developing their VRC skills to work

with the number of volunteers that will show up after a disaster.

These three leaders have over come numerous challenges to get the team to where it is

now and I hope I can achieve the same level of success they have accomplished.

My goals are to continue with the VRC training in addition to increasing community

awareness about the need to be prepared, as this has always shown to be a weakness

when it comes to emergency and disaster preparation. I will be meeting with the Mason FD

management in the upcoming weeks to discuss our path forward and gain their alignment

to our plan.

Patrick Palmer

President

City of Mason, Ohio CERT

CERT in Warren County, Ohio

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Warren County and Mason CERT Supporting Fire and Safety Days at Kings Island – 2017

Thank You to the Greater Cincinnati Automobile Dealers Association for donating Rescue Anne, a training manikin used for teaching cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to both emergency workers and members of the general public.

Fire/EMS training academy at the Warren County Career Center – 2017

CERT in Warren County, Ohio

Gayle DeBord at Kings Island Fire and Safety Days

Casey Gilpin, Curtis Helton and Lee Hite, guest instructors

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From the Warren County CERT President

Greetings Everyone,

Welcome to the first quarterly edition of our newsletter covering the

City of Mason CERT and Warren County CERT. With focus on a

promising new year ahead, I've yet to forget the outstanding year

we had in 2017 and briefly wanted to share with you those

successes for Warren County.

• Warren County CERT membership numbers increased from 5

upwards to around 20 team members in 2017.

• During 2017 Warren County CERT contributed 1000 combined

hours of volunteer service.

Many of those volunteer hours were spent participating in training, exercises, and events

that directly benefit our team members, their families, and communities we serve.

We’re moving forward, there's no doubt about it. Without the gracious support of our CERT

members, sponsoring agencies, and the communities we serve our program’s success

wouldn't be possible and I can't thank you enough for all your efforts!

Last, but not least, if you haven't already done so, I highly encourage placing emergency

preparedness at the top of your list in 2018. One great way of achieving this goal is being

involved through your local CERT. For those interested we're always accepting new

members and will be offering a wide range of no cost training throughout the year providing

you with new skills or enhancing your knowledge involving CERT operations. If you have

any questions regarding our program or CERT in general please reach out at anytime.

Best wishes to you in 2018,

Curtis Helton

President

Warren County, Ohio CERT

CERT in Warren County, Ohio

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Practice Situational Awareness

Situational awareness refers to staying aware of your surroundings to avoid becoming a

victim of a “crime of opportunity.” Traveling on a subway, dropping a child off at school,

walking in a parking garage, or carrying purchases to your car can present an opportunity

for a mugging, robbery, assault, theft, or carjacking. Your intuition and senses are your

best tools for perceiving threats so you can act decisively should danger present itself.

Police officers are trained in situational awareness, and like them, you can participate in

exercises to increase your situational awareness skills.

Take a few moments each day to notice details relating to people and things in your

environment that typically escape your attention. Over time, this can improve your ability to

naturally be more observant, thereby reducing your risk of becoming a victim of a crime of

opportunity.

Break the ICE with your Children

We all watched several disastrous floods in 2017 including the Oroville Dam crisis in

February, Harvey’s rage on Texas in August, and Hurricane Irma’s damage across the

Caribbean and Florida Keys one month later in September.

We continued to watch one of California’s most devastating wildfires into December. Natural

hazards occur with little to no warning. The impacts can be great, but with any natural

disaster personal preparedness can make a huge difference.

A study was led by the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University’s

Earth Institute. The purpose of the study, conducted in December 2015, was to learn more

about people’s opinions and attitudes toward disaster preparedness with a focus on children

in disasters.

Key findings include: over one-third of American households with children (35%) are

not familiar with their child’s school evacuation and emergency plans, and even more

(41%) do not know to what location their children would be evacuated to during a

disaster. Children represent nearly one-quarter of the US population which will be

completely dependent on others for assistance.

You and your family should have a plan to reunite following a disaster if you are not

together without relying on emergency services as they will be taxed and trying to assist the

whole community. We must go beyond the paradigm of basic planning to incorporate a

holistic approach to preparing our children to face “the big one” when it happens.

Break the ICE: Talk to your children, schools, and caregivers regarding your family’s plan

for a disaster. Talk about why: Talk about the top disaster risks in your area (locally -wildfire,

flood, tornado and earthquake), and explain that it is important to have a plan to reunite

quickly during emergencies.

Reprinted from the City of Ashland CERT, January, 2018

CERT in Warren County, Ohio

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Stop The Bleed class sponsored by Warren County Mounted Search Team with instructors from

Delaware County, Ohio, Fire/EMS

Accepting a donation from the Scripps Howard

Foundation, President Curtis Helton expressed

his appreciation for supporting the important

mission of the CERT Team. Pictured left

is Patrick Palmer and far right is Lee Hite.

CERT in Warren County, Ohio

CERT assisting Urbancrest, Lebanon, Ohio

John Entwisle, Casey Gilpin, Curtis Helton, Lee Hite assisting Warren County EMA VRC exercise

City of Mason CERT training exercise

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CERT in Warren County, Ohio

Resources and Documents

2018 Training and Events

CERT Training Curriculum

Signup for CERT Training

Signup for Mason CERT membership

Map to Mason CERT meetings

Signup for Warren County CERT membership

Map to Warren County CERT meetings

Warren County CERT Twitter

Warren County CERT Facebook

FEMA Emergency Management Institute Training Independent Study Program

Communications Band Plan

Best Practices for Talking over Two-Way Radio

How to Program a Two-Way Radio Using a *.csv file with the CHIRP Program

Tri-State Disaster Volunteer Network

Donate Responsibility (How to help after a disaster)

Say Something! Everyone has a story somewhere, what's yours? Personal experiences using your CERT training are highly valued as a teaching example for others. Let us know how you use your knowledge at home, on vacation, at work or out shopping. We seldom deploy for large events because they are few and far between. However, your knowledge is used in some way everyday, tell us how you do that! Send to Lee Hite, leland.hite@gmail.com, 513-240-1129 C

Warren County CERT Officers

President .......................................... Curtis Helton, wcohcert@gmail.com, (513) 465-7601 C

Vice President .................................. Tom Schauf, KD8WXQ, twschauf@aol.com

Public Information Officer………….... Patrick Palmer, KM1WTF, 513-256-1501 C

Liaison .............................................. Dave Astles, 937-271-3227

Treasurer .......................................... Karl DeBord, KD8WXT, 513-379-3755 C

Safety Officer……………………..…. Tim Mullis, KD8USR, 513-222-4528

Logistics, Website and Technology.. Lee Hite, K8CLI, leland.hite@gmail.com, 513-240-1129

City of Mason CERT Officers

President ………………… Patrick Palmer, KM1WTF, patrickcpalmer@gmail.com, 513-256-1501 C

Vice President…………… Lee Hite, K8CLI, leland.hite@gmail.com, 513-240-1129

Past President ………….. Tim Mullis, KD8USR, 513-222-4528

Director of Finance……… Heidi Staub

Technology Director…….. Michael Kramer, KD8WFE