The City of Dallas is for the first time offering its quarterly Community Emergency Response Team, or CERT, course in Spanish.
The classes provided by the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) will be held over three consecutive Saturdays starting Jan. 13.
“We really want to promote this program for all residents of Dallas so that everyone has the opportunity to learn about basic disaster preparedness in the event of an emergency,” the city’s senior emergency management specialist Jennifer Moreno said.
The training sessions will cover basic emergency response skills with realistic disaster scenarios and volunteer “victims,” as well as topics like disaster preparedness, fire safety, disaster medical operations and more.
All classes are interactive and hands-on to equip Dallas residents with tools to protect themselves in disaster situations while waiting for emergency response teams.
“As part of our preparedness program here with the Office of Emergency Management, we really are stressing that residents have the basic skill sets to keep themselves, their families and their communities safe,” Moreno said.
The Spanish-language training program was originally supposed to take place last summer, but the city postponed it to January to allow more participants to get involved.
“We really want to make sure that we're reaching the broadest communities and we’re offering the course in times where it's convenient for populations,” Moreno said
The registration deadline is Jan. 9.
Classes will be held at the Dallas Fire-Rescue Training Academy. All sessions must be completed to receive a course completion certificate.
