The program, presented along with the Rockland County Youth Bureau, is designed to provide basic training in disaster preparedness for residents, which increases their ability to manage an extreme situation until first responders or other assistance arrives.
The class will cover three primary areas:
- How to assess and size up the situation in which the search-and-rescue teams will operate.
- How to systematically search for disaster survivors.
- Safe techniques for lifting, leveraging, cribbing and survivor removal.
Additional classes are offered that teach students to provide services such as supply distribution, fire safety, damage assessment, shelter assembly, neighbor well-checks, light search and rescue, and disaster medical operations.
Classes are offered as part of the RCERT curriculum and are available to those who wish to complete the entire course, or for those who would like to take only classes of interest.
The full RCERT curriculum is a 25- to 30-hour FEMA-based training module composed of eight classes and completed over a course of about eight months to one year. Fully trained RCERT members graduate with a certificate of completion and become eligible for deployment and additional training. Certified members volunteer up to 10 hours per month.
The class will be held at 7 p.m. at the Fire Training Center, 35 Firemen's Memorial Drive, Pomona.
For more information, email rcamericorps@co.rockland.ny.us or call 845-708-7307.
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