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	What’s an "East Coast CERT"? Kerry Bludworth, City of Orlando FD, Retired In 1994 I was made aware of a concept that turned out to be the most dynamic and effective public education and training program that I had ever seen….CERT. Most of you that may be reading this already know the value that the CERT Program brings to a
community. But back in 1994 I only knew that my biggest problem as an emergency management coordinator was getting the general public to understand that when I gave them a warning message – I meant for them to take some kind of action. Funny thing though, they would always wait until the last minute to take any action, and that was usually to call and expect us to tell them what to do. I know this has never happened to you! Before I go into how we use CERT on the East Coast, let me tell you a little about the situation down here. I live in Florida, and we face a whole different set of problems than people in other parts of the country. We’re not as concerned about earthquakes, volcanoes, avalanches, blizzards and tsunamis to name a few; no we look forward each year to the six-month period that offers us the opportunity to experience an equally exciting means of mass destruction – hurricanes. These "Bad Boys" (or girls) are created when Mother Nature sees a need to remove heated water out of the tropics. Yep, (that’s Southern for Yes) an area of the ocean or Caribbean Sea starts to get a little warm and the next thing you know this swirling motion starts to occur and a tropical depression is formed. Sometimes these things start way out in the eastern Atlantic and move across the ocean with the tradewinds, and other times they just sort of appear anywhere along a line north of the equator that can run as far west as Central America.
	What’s interesting about these rascals is that the longer they are exposed to warm water the more they develop into this huge circular weather system. As they encounter even warmer waters, like that around the coast of Florida and in the Gulf of Mexico, they start to sort of "get mad". The warm air over the water starts rising faster and faster in the center of this storm and it exits over the top of the storm, usually 25 to 35 thousand feet or more above the water. When this happens, the
air turns cold and tries to head back down again. This all sets up a cycle that gets the winds in the center of the storm moving faster and faster until it actually creates an "eye", signaling the formation of a hurricane. Most of you reading this have probably experienced severe thunderstorms before….lots of windswept rain, lightning, maybe some high gusting and damaging winds with hail and Oh Yeah, a tornado or two. Well, I’m here to tell you, think of those conditions lasting for hours on end. Imagine facing a storm that measures 600 miles across and packs winds of 74 to over 155 mph. Those of you that live on the coast think about a surge of water from 5 feet to over 20 feet coming toward your waterfront exposure. Try to guess how many tornadoes a system of this size produces in the waves of "feeder bands" that race across the landscape in advance of the approaching eye. All of us have seen, through the media, the damage these storms can cause. About the only saving grace with a hurricane is that we almost always have warning that one is approaching, and in fact, we are very fortunate to have that opportunity. This warning time, as a matter of fact, is what the "East Coast CERT Model" is built around.
	The only major difference between the "West Coast" and "East Coast" programs is the way we structure the information taught in three of the seven classes. We maintain the same course structure as programs out West with regard to Disaster Medical, Fire Suppression, and Light Search & Rescue. What we changed was the content of Classes 1, 6 & 7. We took the best information out of those classes and added things that residents of the East Coast need to learn.
Citizens that take our Class 1 will learn about: The hazards that threaten Florida (and other East Coast states), The type of damage that can be done to the infrastructure, What citizens can do to make it through the first 72 hours, What the emergency management system is and how it is activated, And how citizen teams fit into the system. Classes 6 & 7 were renamed to "Pre-Storm Operations" and "Post-Storm Operations". In the Pre-Storm classes our students are taught, Long-term planning considerations such as, Strengthening the home, what survival gear to have, and what they need to do when we issue certain warnings. When to evacuate, what to have on hand, what to take with you, and what not to. What to teach your kids, what they will need, and when it’s time to go camping! We also teach our students how to track and, within reason, how to predict the path a storm may take and when to expect tropical storm conditions. Forming neighborhood teams Short-term actions such as the "Neighborhood Inventory", who’s home, who’s not, who’s evacuating, who has special skills, special equipment, or special needs. Disaster Psychology We actually put our students through a hurricane tracking and planning exercise using a video tape that the State of Florida produced for the annual Statewide Hurricane Exercise. They are also given a real time "Neighborhood Command Post" exercise to help them learn how to prioritize problems and make decisions. And of course there is an exercise at some point after the training where students get to practice their response skills. Now we also cover many of the other types of problems Florida residents can experience, but we try to show our people that many of the actions they would take in preparation or response to a hurricane are appropriate for these other incidents. I think the thing that impresses me most about the CERT program is that, in addition to building a bond with the public that we never really had before, they really do change their behavior with regard to disaster preparedness. This program goes quite a bit farther than just making people aware, it actually gets them interested in taking "mitigative" steps to protect themselves, their family and their property; not to mention spreading the word to neighbors and bringing them closer together. We here in Florida owe a great deal to the forward thinking people in the City of Los Angeles Fire Department that developed this program and came out to teach it to us. This is by far the greatest public safety tool I think I have ever been exposed to in my 25 years in the fire and emergency services. Kerry Bludworth is retired from the City of Orlando Fire Department. He now works as an emergency management consultant and teaches CERT Train-the-Trainers for the states of Florida and North Carolina Division of Emergency Management.

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