Widespread Structural Damage, Multiple Patients, Landslides, and Residents trapped or missing are just a few of the many challenges CERT Members faced during The Oakridge Community CERT Earthquake Exercise held March 9th, 2019.
Just over 120 CERT volunteers proudly representing Cities surrounding the Los Angeles area, with some as far as Arizona, converged on the Sylmar area of the San Fernando Valley joining LAFD CERT Members in putting their training to the test. Residents of the Oakridge Mobile Home Community simulating victims and nearby spectators attracted by the curiosity of an LAFD Helicopter overhead, experienced first hand the critical life saving skills CERT Training provides during this large scale simulation, before it’s really needed. Over a 4 hour span, CERT members performed operations consisting of Search and Rescue, Patient Triage, Disaster Medical Treatment, Communications, and Damage Assessments. Utilizing their CERT training, these dedicated volunteers successfully extracted simulated trapped victims, employing effective lifting and cribbing techniques while maintaining their own safety. One unique challenge presented to participating CERT members consisted of searching the nearby mountain side, for 2 residents that were missing with sustained simulated injuries shorty after the earthquake struck. The K9 search teams, from CEMP- California Emergency Mobile Patrol, along with Los Angeles Fire Department UAV (drones) Pilots worked seamless together, resulting in quickly locating the missing.
At the helm of the planning team of this successfully, large scale earthquake exercise, LAFD CERT Battalion 12 Coordinator Janet Gibson. The Los Angeles Fire Department CERT Unit is proud of our LAFD CERT Members especially of Janet and her team. This team of amazingly motivated volunteers, Batt12 OPS Unit, is a model example of taking a proactive role in your community preparedness and clearly demonstrated their commitment of creating “The Greatest Good for the Greatest Number of People.”
Congratulations and THANKS! to the Core Planning Committee for this great exercise:
Tim Lauber – Planning and Photography
Richard Rosenberg – Technology and Communications
Otilia Rosenberg – Medical
Dave Bond – Safety
Linda Willeford – Planning and Oakridge Liason
Sharon Hawkins- Operations
Trish & Chris Pulos – Moulage
Michael Mason – Technology and Communications
Justyn Ariaza – Youth Volunteer Coordinator
Kevin Sprout – Staging
Kevin Scott – Event Site Prep
MEDIA LINKS
To see EVERYTHING that went on during the drill, please visit Bernard Guyman’s page for over 750 photos! Photos at the top of this article are courtesy of Bernard.
News report from KABC Channel 7 about the Sylmar Earthquake Drill. CLICK HERE to go to their story.
To view the video from KTLA, please CLICK HERE.
