The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program is a federally supported initiative that trains members of the public to assist during emergencies when first responders are delayed, overwhelmed or not immediately available. For fire and emergency services agencies, CERT represents both a force multiplier and a community risk reduction (CRR) tool.
What is the history of CERT?
According to the Los Angeles Fire Department, the CERT concept date back to 1985 when fire officials traveled overseas to study disaster response. A group that included retired Assistant Fire Chief Frank Borden visited Japan to learn how communities responded after major earthquakes. During the trip, officials saw the importance of trained community members in disaster response.
Later that year, LAFD officials also traveled to Mexico after the magnitude 8.1 Mexico City earthquake, which killed more than 10,000 people. There, they saw ordinary residents become the first responders in the immediate aftermath, digging through rubble to rescue trapped victims.
Following those visits, the LAFD trained a small group of community members in basic fire suppression, first aid, search and evacuation. The first 30 graduates showed that the CERT model could work: Ordinary residents, with the right training, could provide organized help during the critical early minutes after a disaster.
The program gained stronger support after the Oct. 1, 1987, Whittier Narrows earthquake in Southern California. The quake gave city officials a clearer view of how useful trained community volunteers could be when emergency crews were stretched thin. After that, Los Angeles expanded its support for the CERT program.
According to the National CERT Association, CERT became a national program in 1993.
There are now CERT programs in all 50 states, including many tribal nations and U.S. territories. There are more than 3,200 local CERT programs nationwide, and more than 600,000 people have trained since CERT became a national program.
National CERT Week recognizes CERT programs nationwide and raises awareness of their role in community preparedness. This event is held during the third week of September in conjunction with National Preparedness Month.
Additionally, the National CERT Association’s National Conference features training, breakout sessions and specialized tracks focused on program management, community resilience, hands-on skills, workplace preparedness, multicultural outreach and campus CERT programs.
What are CERT’s core training and capabilities?
CERT training focuses on basic disaster response skills that align with, but do not replace, professional emergency services. Standard curriculum areas include:
- Disaster preparedness and hazard awareness
- Fire safety and utility control
- Light search and rescue
- Disaster medical operations, including triage and treatment
- Team organization and incident command principles
- Disaster psychology
Graduates are not firefighters or EMTs. Their role is to perform low-risk, high-value tasks until trained responders arrive and to support operations as directed once command is established.
What is CERT’s operational role in emergencies?
From a fire service perspective, CERT members can provide support in several ways:
- Conducting initial size-up and reporting conditions in their immediate area
- Performing basic fire suppression with portable extinguishers when safe to do so
- Assisting with light search and rescue in non-structural collapse environments
- Providing basic first aid and triage
- Supporting evacuation efforts and accountability tracking
- Staffing shelters or assisting with logistics during extended incidents
CERT members are trained to avoid high-risk environments, structural firefighting, technical rescue and advanced medical care. Integration with the incident command system (ICS) is emphasized to maintain accountability and safety.
What are the capabilities, challenges and limitations for CERT?
CERT members can give fire departments added capacity during major incidents, improve community preparedness, build public trust and provide neighborhood-level information during disasters.
But agencies should be realistic: Volunteer availability can vary, training is basic, liability and safety must be managed, and sustaining the program takes dedicated resources. Departments get the most value when CERT is built into broader preparedness and response plans, not treated as an afterthought.
CERT is not a replacement for professional emergency services, but it can be a practical extension of them. For fire departments facing rising call volumes, staffing constraints and complex incidents, a well-managed CERT program can strengthen resilience within the agency and across the community.
Watch the LAFD video about the history of CERT:
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