Weldon Spring, Cottleville join forces for Citizen’s Corp

By Mary Ann O'Toole Holley

Becoming part of the Cottleville or Weldon Spring Citizen’s Corp won’t put you in uniform, send you overseas, or send you to boot camp. It will, however, prepare you to help your family, your neighbors and others in daily life and in case of a widespread emergency.

The Cottleville Fire Protection District and Weldon Spring officials are promoting community involvement between their emergency services and everyday residents by providing an upcoming 20-hour Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program for city residents.

Seminars will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. May 16; 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 17; and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 18, at the Cottleville Fire District’s main station, 1385 Motherhead Road (at Hwy. N) in Cottleville.

Participants will learn disaster preparedness, how to perform light searches and rescue missions and to respond to community threats. If a disaster should take place in the area, those who complete the training will be able to work with city emergency response teams, using response and organization skills learned in the program.

CERT training was started in 1994 by the Los Angeles Fire Department and continues to be promoted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Cottleville Fire Protection District Assistant Fire Chief Scott Freitag, a trainer in the CERT program, says having an informed Citizen’s Corp will be a Godsend for area firefighters, emergency response teams and for area residents.

“It will help the Cottleville Fire Protection District and every resident in the areas we cover,” Freitag said. “This is the second program for Cottleville. But this time, we’re combining our resources to make our teams stronger.”

The first program was very successful, Freitag said. The people enjoyed it and had an opportunity to find out more about emergency services that service their area. But more importantly, they learned how to take care of themselves, their families and community in case of disaster, Freitag said.

Professional trainers will teach residents about disaster preparedness that can be used and passed on to teach their neighbors. They will learn basic first aid, about light search and rescue and how to evaluate an emergency scene, working within their training boundaries, Freitag said. They will also learn basic fire suppression—how to use a fire extinguisher and will learn more about the National Internet Management System—an offshoot of what the fire service has used for years as an incident command system.

“There are absolutely situations where we wish residents could pitch in to help. The situation that comes to mind is that St. Charles has had numerous storms that really taxed emergency services,” Freitag said. “They were able to call in residents to help road closures, clearing debris and more.”

Freitag said CERT volunteers would also be able to help during ice storms or any disaster situation.

“We may be able to bring in these folks to help with contacting senior citizens during power outages, heat waves and major storms in the area. When you have something of a disaster happen and all the firefighters are out, it’s a great time to use the services of CERT members – whether during a roadblock or when wires are down. To have people out scouting to see if a firefighter could help would be a huge benefit to the community. We would have volunteers ready, willing and able to help in any capacity including filling sandbags and setting up shelters during flooding conditions.”

Sonja Zeis, the Weldon Spring CERT coordinator, said the Weldon Spring team was formed in August 2007 with after 27 members were trained. There are currently eight active members, but the city would like to see as many as possible.

“The city tries to hold trainings twice a year, but partnered with Cottleville this year to increase resources, and because it’s always better to train with a bigger group,” Zeis said.

Cottleville has the fire department, Emergency Response Team and police management training, so it provides better connections, Zeis said.

The CERT Program is hands-on,” Zeis said. In case of a mega-disaster, it is good for citizens to know how to self-sustain for at least three to seven days. It’s also good to have people trained to help their neighbors, she said. If a violent storm or tornado took place and a neighbor had a tree on top of her, for example, they’d know how to get help to get him or her out safely.

Weldon Spring City Administrator Michael Padella, who also serves as emergency director for the city, said the CERT program wouldn’t be successful without residents and lay people volunteering their time and staying active.

“It’s completely based upon general public participation. That’s what it’s geared toward,” Padella said. “The program is still gaining steam, and we have not activated a CERT team, but there are opportunities whether they’re in or out of the city.”

Padella said with recent flooding near the Meramec River, there was a request for volunteers from Weldon Spring.

“Even if it’s one or two people, if you get that from every CERT team in the area you’ve got plenty of volunteers,” Padella said. “We are fortunate that we haven’t had anything that hasn’t lasted more than a day, but we have an elderly population, and if there is a widespread storm, firefighters and police will be taxed and CERT volunteers could fill a great need.”

Weldon Spring has also purchased a CERT portable trailer as a disaster assistant point. In case of a disaster, supplies and materials will be portable and available to help emergency responders. The city is also working on an inter-operable communication plan for the city to facilitate communications with residents and with emergency operation centers in Cottleville and St. Charles County.

“If we had a radio frequency that could communicate directly with our residents, we could somehow get on that frequency to send out immediate messages and let citizens know they need to take cover or evacuate because of a chemical spill or catastrophe,” Zeis said. “We want them to know what to do, and where to go.”

The communication system is currently under development, but in the meantime, Zeis says the first order of business is to create a strong Citizen’s Corps.

“It’s good that the community has a program to train others to respond to disasters because we live in an area that could have power outages, tornados and severe thunder storms. We are also close to the highway, and, who knows. A chemical spill could occur. With a Citizen’s Corps, we’d be ready,” Zeis said.

Volunteers don’t need a medical background, but need only common sense. The basic rule is to teach people to determine how many are down and who needs assistance. CERT volunteers will not administer CPR or provide medical care.

“For the average person, anyone can learn this to help themselves or others in case of a disaster,” Zeis said. “The more experience you have, the better prepared you are. Practice improves preparedness; that’s our motto.”

Sign on to become a member of the Citizen’s Corp at the Weldon Spring City Hall, 5401 Independence Road or Cottleville City Hall, 5377 Hwy. N, Suite A. Registration deadline is May 2. Participants must be at least 18 years of age. Breakfast and lunch will be provided during the May 17 and 18 training sessions. Class space is limited and there is a registration fee of $25.

For more information, visit the Weldon Spring Web site at www.weldonspring.org; call Judy Claus at the Cottleville Fire Protection District at 636-447-6655; or email weldonspringcert@yahoo.com, and someone will contact you.

The Emergency Action Plan Committee (open to the public) meets on the third Thursday of the month at City Hall at 6:30 p.m. City contacts are Alderman Dick Jelen at djelen@weldonspring.org (928-9297) or City Emergency Management Director Michael Padella, at mpadella@weldonspring.org (441-2110 x102).

Reprinted from Mid Rivers Newsmagazine