The long-awaited day had come: The day of the LAFD CERT General Refresher. As you may have heard, this day was a long time in the making. Before we go into what happened, we have to look at how all of this came together.
THE BACKSTORY
The backstory begins with our Christy Adair, CERT Valley Bureau Coordinator, who approached Chief Jamie Moore who runs Operations Valley Bureau. Christy has a similar relationship to the one I have with Operations South Bureau. She decided to approach OVB with the idea of hosting a General CERT Refresher. After several talks, Chief Moore and OVB were able to make this idea happen. What was needed was FUNDING for the refresher and OVB ponied that up. As far as actually bringing the concept to life, they (OVB) were content to leave that aspect to the LAFD CERT Unit and Christy.
The initial aim was to have this refresher in the month of April 2025. The main reason was that the temperatures would be far more hospitable than it would be at any other time of the year. Christy’s chosen site for the refresher was Los Angeles CITY Fire Station 88 in Sherman Oaks. There was some back and forth on the site, but, in the end, it became the destination for us. Fire Station 88, in the past, was always the primary site for our refreshers when they were held in the valley. For those of us who have been around a while, our refreshers were held quarterly and rotated throughout the city. In West Bureau, Station 59 served as our refresher site. In Central Bureau, it was Frank Hotchkin Memorial Training Center (FHMTC). Finally, Peck Park served as the destination for Operations South Bureau. CERT’s last refresher was in October 2023 and was held at FHMTC.
After several delays, the date(s) for the refresher was coming into focus. Unfortunately, the idea of doing it in April was out of the window since that month came and went. We were now in May and it became apparent that scheduling would be getting into the summer months. Due to budget stipulations, the refresher would have to be conducted before the last day of June 2025. The next great problem we had to deal with was picking that FINAL DATE. When it comes to your CERT & Call Out Teams, we had to work through the busy schedules we all have. During this time of year, we have multiple outreach events (mostly on Saturday’s) and Call Out assignments. It was decided, however, to schedule this refresher on Sunday June 22, 2025 from 0800-1300 Hours.
There were advantages to scheduling this event on Sunday as opposed to Saturday. Saturdays, in general, are very busy for most people and not just CERT people. It’s that day where there are more competing activities taking place, especially those with similar organizational ties, elsewhere. One thing that has been an issue for some time is the fact that members of the CERT team who are from the observant community, Seventh Day Adventists, and so on whose Sabbath is on Saturdays were never able to get out to these exercises. Finally, CERT Coordinators/Call Out is less busy on Sundays as we have said. The whole thing just made sense.
Once those logistics were in place, the big work began…PLANNING THE EXERCISE. Captain Hurtado, who would not be with us on the date of the exercise, placed LAFD FF / CERT Instructor Jeff Van Gorder in command of the exercise. He worked with instructors Andrew Huang, Joe Santa Maria, Kurt Howard, and Jacob Gonzalez on the actual exercise design. Christy, who had been the force behind this effort, was also a part of the planning. Digitally, CERT unit’s Elsa Rodarte got the Evenbrite up. While they planned, the rest of us made sure all of our members got the word and signed up. By the time exercise day came around, ALL 150 spots were claimed and we had people on the waitlist.
Most coordinators will tell you that we made sure to pitch the refresher concept to all graduating CERT Basic Training Classes that would be completed before the date of the exercise. Nothing is better than being able to graduate a class and get them immediately into the field PRACTICING what they learned.
In the days leading up to the exercise, logistic issues, namely timing for everyone’s arrival became a bit of an issue, but, in the end, you just have to go with what you have. The exercise was timed to run from 0800-1300 Hours and as long as everyone’s on time, especially our coordinators and Call Out members who would help set-up the event alongside the instructors.
THE DAY OF
On the day of the exercise, most of us (Coordinators and Call Out) arrived EARLY. Arrivals started at, really, just after 0600 Hours. Within the five days leading up to the exercise, the arrival time for us and the general CERT membership got earlier and earlier. The main concern was that member sign-in and dealing with paperwork like the liability waivers can sometimes drag on and even cut into the actual exercise time. Therefore, with the fact that potentially 150 people (not counting Call Out & Coordinators) coming, FF Van Gorder felt it was prudent to have everyone come early.
Because the weather was, at some point during the day, heating up, we moved to have one of our CE Units on scene. The one that made the most sense was CE-83 which is housed just a mile away. Our Jeff Hole and Orlando Bohr staffed that vehicle for the day. Jeff did all of the prep work leading up to the event and on the day of the event, these two guys put their best foot forward and made sure everyone on scene was hydrated and even fed to some degree.
During the 0700 Hour, we dealt with sign-ins and paperwork and got through it actually quickly. Christy and I took a lot of these members over to the other side of the exercise area and gave them an introduction to basic CERT volunteer command structure. We introduced them to the Bureau Coordinators who were on scene (the only one not in attendance was our Carl Ginsberg). We also had the Battalion Coordinators who were on site introduce themselves as well. With the extra time we had, we were asked to put on some “just in time” training. I suggested that our Patrick Botz-Forbes do some medical talk covering triage and other things this mostly rookie group would run into. He took about 30 minutes to go into a thorough talk on this subject which these CERTs appreciated greatly.
Firefighter Van Gorder Advised me that they needed additional time to set up the Swear-Ins related to Call Out Team and Coordinators who would be going through that process. I dove in and talked to these folks about the Call Out program which is always on CERT members’ minds. Once I was done with that. I let these folks ask questions about that and general CERT subjects that might have been on their minds. I was advised that we were ready to transition into having everyone gather to see those new Call Out members and Coordinators raise their right hands and promise to defend the constitution from enemies both foreign and domestic. You can read that story in the Call Out section of the newsletter. The story on our new Coordinator, Patric Cohen (Battalion 9) immediately follows this one.
Firefighter Van Gorder and his team took center stage and gave the briefing for the morning’s slate of exercises. The schedule included a deployment exercise in which members would head out into the “practice city” and participate in Search & Rescue activities which would allow them to use ALL of skills they had learned in the CERT class. There would be some SPECIALIZED TRAINING which included “cribbing” which was a real hit and MEDICAL TARP OPERATIONS. There was also a station devoted to the use of fire extinguishers which allowed members to fight a REAL fire as a team and using P.A.S.S.
Very close to the main meeting area, we ran members through Staging Operations which, in and of itself can be some of the most difficult skills to master. New CERTs, in particular, tend to fold during these operations because they are not experienced enough in running multiple operations simultaneously. Now let me be clear, ALL OF US WERE NEW CERTS AT ONE TIME. Therefore, we are fiercely aware of what it takes and that’s why we are so insistent to our members that they practice these skills and everything else on a regular basis.
At all of these stations, senior CERT members (made up of Battalion Coordinators & Call Out Members) were assisting at the various stations and sometimes LEADING the exercises and trainings. This can be seen in the area where cribbing was being practiced. Our Kevin Sprout and Erik Clarke led that training while the FF / Instructor looked on and added additional commentary as needed.
One notable occurrence took place in the first revolution of the exercise when FF / Instructor Kurt Howard, who was overseeing the medical training, scrapped that portion of the exercise because members did NOT have the proper gear or equipment to do patient movements. The one thing we know about FF / Instructor Kurt Howard is that he is “hard” when it comes to how CERT does medical operations. He explained to me later that, because these folks did not have everything they needed to be effective in the operation, he felt it was best to scrap it. In a real-life situation, as we know, our crews need to have every bit of gear and every bit of knowledge to be effective and safe.
The exercise would continue on for several more hours and include at least one more full revolution for everyone to gain participation as desired.
WRAPPING UP
As always, we gathered everyone back at the main staging area for a Hot Wash. The commentary was wide and varied. However, the one unifying theme was simple among this mostly ROOKIE TEAM: They realized that they need to do WAY MORE of these types of practice sessions so they can become, at least, competent enough to run an operation during a real disaster. This is something that we all learn early in our CERT journey. For many, they will continue to grow their skills using every opportunity to train. Others will devote themselves to team formation which is needed throughout the city. Others will become active in the area of community operations while adding the Call Out aspect which, as intended, will give them skills to manage and even direct general CERT Call Out members. They would do that portion of duty with the assistance and direction of the CERT Battalion Coordinator. It does help that many of our coordinators are also members of the Call Out Team.
We can’t tell you, at this time, when the next general CERT refresher will be taking place (or where), but stay tuned for more information. In the meantime, there is NO SHORTAGE of CERT-led training taking place on a regular basis in the City of Los Angeles. If you are a member (and you have not done it yet), GET IN TOUCH WITH YOUR AREA BATTALION COORDINATOR. Through them and the CERT website, your weeknights and weekends will be filled (as you desire) with in person training, lectures which can be live or virtual, and local events. Take advantage of everything you can get your hands on.
Video by Marc CoronelThe video above was made during the June 22, 2025 LAFD CERT General Refresher which was held at Los Angeles CITY Fire Station 88 in Sherman Oaks.
