7 Graduate From Whitfield CERT Training

Seven students recently graduated from Whitfield County Emergency Management Agency’s Community Emergency Response Team Academy 13, raising the total number of graduates since 2010 to 233.

Completing the 20 hours of CERT basic training consisting of Disaster Preparedness, Fire Safety, Fire Extinguishers and Utility Control, Disaster Medical, Treatment and Triage, Light Search and Rescue, ICS and CERT Origination, Disaster Psychology and CERT during Terrorism were Joni Adams, Gary Brown (director of Buildings & Grounds for Whitfield County), Marvin Mealer, Ray Parrott, Benjamin Phillips, Albert Pickle and Jennifer Rodriguez. 

The courses were taught Nov. 5 at Whitfield County’s Emergency Operations Center inside the 911 Center and Nov. 7 and 8 at Dalton State College. 

Instructors included EMA Deputy Director Jeff Ownby, Emergency Management Specialist Amy Cooley, Dalton Fire’s Firefighter 3 Greg Metcalf and Whitfield County Fire’s Lt. Jamie Franks, Engineer Lee Coker, Engineer Darren Burnette, Firefighter Cody Ruddell and Rookie Christian Chadwick, a graduate of CERT Academy 11 in 2014. 

Also assisting with the training and disaster exercise were CERT members Dave Senters, Christina Byrd, Ken Wiggins, and Miki Parks. 

“CERT is a positive and realistic approach to emergency and disaster situations where citizens may initially be on their own and their actions can and do make a difference,” Deputy Director Ownby said. “While people will respond to others in need without the training, one goal of the CERT program is to help them do so effectively and efficiently without placing themselves in unnecessary danger, therefore minimizing their risk of bodily injury and simply becoming another victim.”