Who are They?
The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) is a group of local volunteers who are trained to help during major disasters, like storms or floods. If you live or work in the City of Taylor, and are over 18, you can join.
Motto
"To provide area residents of the City of Taylor, and its neighboring communities and first responders a quality resource for safety education, hazard mitigation, emergency response assistance and other volunteer efforts." - Citizens Corp/CERT
About Us
The Taylor CERT Program was established in Taylor in 2012. It is dispatched by the Fire Chief under the Supervision of the Taylor Fire Department. Overseeing the program is Blaine Honeycutt. CERT trainers are Robert Inman and Honeycutt, who are certified by Citizens Corps, an extension of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
According to FEMA: "Following a major disaster, first responders who provide fire and medical services will not be able to meet the demand for these services. People will have to rely on each other for help in order to meet their immediate life saving and life sustaining needs."
Training
All CERT volunteers have completed a 20-hour training course which is offered by the Taylor CERT Program twice a year. Volunteers are trained in Disaster Preparedness, Fire Safety and Utility Controls, Disaster Medical Operations, Search & Rescue, Disaster Psychology and Terrorism. The Taylor CERT Program offers to all of it members additional training such as Animal Rescue, Traffic and Crowd Control, Weather Spotting and more. The Taylor CERT program can be seen around Taylor at events like Relay for Life and the Taylor Summer Festival. You may see us driving around after a storm sitting on downed power lines keeping you and your neighbors away from danger and safe until DTE Energy can arrive and fix the issues.
More Information
For more information on the Taylor CERT Program please visit the CERT Website.