By Patrina A. Bostic
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
EAST MANATEE, Fla. — The simulated smoke that filled a house and billowed from the roof into the sky looked real.
So did the planned rescue of a firefighter and resident who were trapped inside the house and saved by emergency workers.
The event even felt real to other emergency workers at the scene who clapped and cheered when the two victims opened their eyes and climbed off gurneys unharmed.
East Manatee Fire Rescue simulated the fire Monday as part of a training exercise for firefighters, other emergency workers and the Community Emergency Response Team from Waterlefe.
The Manatee County CERT program educates local neighborhood groups about disaster preparedness and trains them how to administer basic aid until rescue workers get to the scene.
CERT teams do not replace first responders, but act as a bridge between their community and emergency workers, said Richard Haynes, the county’s CERT coordinator.
“We want to be helpful to the first responders when they come into our community,” said Stephanie Lang, who leads Waterlefe CERT.
A Waterlefe CERT member took part in the drill by pretending to brief a firefighter about a victim who was trapped inside the smoke-filled house.
The role CERT members have in helping bring aid to residents in their community during a disaster is an important one, said Tim Hyden, training officer for East Manatee Fire Rescue.
“Every community needs to look at doing something like this,” Hyden said.
The activity also allowed firefighters to use thermo-imagers to see through thick fog in order to find victims as they would in the case of a real, smoky fire.
“I don’t know how they do the job they do,” said Binnie Thom, a Waterlefe CERT member. “During an emergency situation, they are keeping their head. They are keeping calm. They stay focused.”
The drill also helped train Manatee County 911 operators, who got to experience what it is like to be at the other end of the disaster, rather than taking the calls and dispatching emergency workers.
“It makes it easier to understand what they are doing,” dispatcher Kim Wilson said about on-the-scene emergency and medical workers. “You know it’s not real, but it could be very real.”
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