Hopkins County Fire Station #20 located on South Texas Street will be the site of three complete sessions of CERT training for citizens who want to learn lifesaving and disaster response skills for readiness in their community and neighborhoods. CERT stands for Community Emergency Response Team and Hopkins County is hoping to form a large team of about 100 trained volunteers. CERT certification will be offered through FEMA, sponsored by the Ark-Tex Council of Governments. Out of the ATCOG counties, most teams average about 30 members. If you’d like to be part of the growing local team of men, women and adult-supervised youth, contact the office of Hopkins County Fire Chief Andy Endsley at 903-919-8096 or attend the first training session to find out more. Three consecutive Saturday sessions will be held from 8:30 am until 4 pm on February 25, March 4 and March 11 at Fire Station #20 in the upstairs classroom. Following a skills test at the Fire Academy later in March, trainees will become certified. Following certification, team members can be mobilized during times of need such as weather, fire or other local incident to supplement local emergency responders. CERT skills to be taught include lifesaving techniques, basic disaster response, light search and rescue, disaster medical operations, team organization and triage assistance with other community disaster responses.
