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	My CERT Skills Were More Valuable Than My Firefighting Skills When The Big One Hit Trevor Miller, Firefighter and CERT Instructor for the Overland Park Fire Department, Overland Park Kansas On Sunday, May 4, I was working my second job on the Kansas Speedway Fire And Rescue. At approximately 4:30 p.m. an F4 tornado tore through the areas surrounding the Speedway. One of the firefighter/paramedics on my crew lived in one of the neighborhoods in the path of the tornado and his home sustained damage. When I asked the Richard Petty crew for volunteers, they looked at each other and then the leader said, “We’ll all go.” We loaded some of the fire/rescue crew, the Richard Petty Driving School crew and some security personnel into vehicles and drove to the neighborhood.
When I arrived the sight was unbelievable. People were coming out of their houses dumbfounded and dazed. Some were trying to find relatives and friends. I could hear and smell gas running. The road was blocked by debris. Although I am a firefighter and had fire and rescue personnel with me, we did not have the standard response equipment for this type of emergency. At that point I decided that my training as a CERT instructor would be more helpful so I took a deep breath and yelled at the top of my voice, “People in the neighborhood, if you can hear me come gather over here.” To my surprise, they did. I told them that it was going to be a while before we would see any help. In the meantime, I told them we needed to accomplish a list of things on our own. A group of people needed to get some tools and go from house to house turning off the gas. A group of people need to gather the elderly and very young into a garage or building that was still sound to get them out of the incoming threatening weather. A group of people needed to clear the street of debris so that when help did arrive they could get through the neighborhood. A group of people needed to go from house to house to look for people who needed light rescue.
I was grateful to discover that due to the early warning everyone received, we had no real injuries to deal with. Everyone was alive because they had had enough warning to get to their basements and take cover.
Before I had time to catch my breath, people were showing up with tools for shutting off gas and were beginning to clear the road. When they couldn’t shut off the gas because the meter had been severed, I showed them how to take pieces of wood, which were lying around everywhere, and pound them into the gas line with another piece of wood. I moved from that section to the next section of the neighborhood to begin the same thing. When I looked back, the roads were clear in the first area. We did this in three neighborhoods that afternoon. It was over an hour before the first overwhelmed fire truck arrived.
	What amazed me the most was how well the people responded to direction. Most of them had just lost everything, yet instead of hanging close to home, they began following directions for the good of the whole neighborhood. It was as if they wanted to do something and just needed someone to give them ideas. In CERT training we tell the students that if they will just look around, decide what needs to be done and take charge, others will follow and be willing to help. My experience proved this point. After something like this happens, they don’t know where to start. If someone is willing to take the lead role and give direction, they will follow and get the job done.
While I have been a supporter of our CERT program in Overland Park from the beginning, both as an instructor and as a firefighter, this experience showed me first hand how valuable those CERT members would be if we were ever unfortunate enough to experience a disaster of this magnitude in Overland Park. It also showed me first hand what I knew in theory, the program works. Average people can do a lot to help themselves and their neighbors in a disaster, long before the fire department arrives. As an emergency responder, I’m glad we have those folks out there waiting to help if we need them.

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