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	2002 Winter Olympic Games *Bob Fowler, Utah Emergency Management* It’s not a matter of if anymore, the Winter Games are coming to Utah and in about 560 days! The games will place great pressure on the communities and on the emergency management system as well. Utah’s Division of Comprehensive Emergency Management (CEM) dynamic Director, Lt. Col. Earl Morris, recently returned from Sidney, Australia, and site of the 2000 Summer Games. He was impressed with the magnitude of support personnel required to conduct the Olympics. Many trained volunteers will be needed to augment an army of law enforcement and emergency management people who will be on duty to support the largest sporting event in Utah’s history.
Director Morris says he is looking toward the Community Emergency Response Teams, or CERT members, as a major source for these volunteers. For good reason, they are trained, dedicated and, hopefully, available. During the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, 40% of the volunteers did not report to their assigned areas. This placed a heavy burden on those supporting the games.
Utah is known for being a service-oriented state. The spontaneous volunteers who turned out to assist victims of the Riverdale canal disaster and the Salt Lake City tornado are good illustrations of this fact. CERT volunteers may be asked to perform a variety of tasks from crowd control, parking services, deliveries or assisting with other public safety activities. In order for this program to be successful, the volunteers must be trained in their specific Olympic support duties, properly equipped, and pre-deployed into the assigned venues and work sites. Each person will wear distinctive Utah Olympic Public Safety Command vests and insignia that identify them as volunteers. The Association of Volunteer Emergency Response Teams (AVERT) and the CERT programs in the Olympic venue communities will be the focal points of local volunteers.

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