CERT Los Angeles 2002 CERT National Conference

Partners in Preparedness
Our History is our Future

On November 3, 4 and 5, 2002, the Los Angeles Fire Department hosted a CERT National Conference at the Hilton Los Angeles Airport.

This conference was designed to be an interactive conference with many representatives from CERT programs from around the nation, sharing thoughts, ideas and experiences to help build a unified CERT Program.

People came from FEMA, Citizen Corps, 17 states and the District of Columbia!

After the opening session, the primary focus was an open forum of discussion lead by a moderator. Questions included:

• How do you interface with your city's disaster plan?
• Do you conduct background checks? If not, why?
• What is the minimum age to be certified?
• Do you incorporate extra skills or training (sandbags, traffic control, cribbing, shoring, etc.)?
• Do you charge for classes? If yes, who do you charge?

On the last day, there were breakout sessions:

• CERT GETTING STARTED/ADMINISTRATION
  Frank Lucier, Executive Board of the National Institute for Urban Search and Rescue, and the editor and publisher of The Connection
• CERT IN SCHOOLS
  Ron Nelson, Los Altos High School, Security & Emergency Preparedness Coordinator
• CERT RECRUITMENT/RETENTION/OUTREACH
  Rachel Jacky, Community Services Manager, Portland Fire & Rescue
• CONVERGENT VOLUNTEERS
  Bobbi Jacobsen, Senior Management Analyst I, Personnel Department, Administrative Services Division, City of Los Angeles

A special thank-you to the vendors!

BICEPP	SOS Survival Products	Red Cross
Earthquake Management 800-925-9744	Simpler Life Products	ProPac
Emergency Network Los Angeles	Impressions Unlimited impressn@relia.net	California State Firefighters Association
LAFD Historical Society	National Disaster Preparedness Funding Program

	updated: 03 August 2004