West Windsor residents already deal with harsh winter weather and sometimes damaging thunderstorms that down trees and cause flooding, but in the event that a more catastrophic event happens, the town will need all the help it can get.
A group of about 40 residents in West Windsor is dedicated to helping emergency crews with whatever catastrophe may hit the township, and they have been preparing over the past six years through various training exercises.
Lieutenant Joe Gribbons of the township’s Emergency Services Department made a presentation to the Township Council on December 6 to highlight the contributions of that group of residents, known as the Community Emergency Response Team, and provide information on the team’s history. The presentation was also aimed at drawing potential future CERT candidates.
Since June, the CERT team has finished creating its mission statement, created its own logo (which incorporates a Martian, trains, and schools into the design), and has been training.
The CERT team — made up entirely of volunteer residents — is preparing to begin its next training session in January under Township Deputy Clerk Gay Huber, who is also the township’s shelter manager.
The shelter management training session will teach current members how to set up a shelter in the event of an emergency that requires people to be removed from a certain area and relocated to another.
The idea to form a CERT team came out in Los Angeles, after officials realized that nearly all of the entrapped people during one severe earthquake were rescued by their neighbors. The idea spread to places like Indiana, which prepares residents to deal with incidents like tornadoes, Gribbons explained.
In New Jersey, officials plan for various possibilities, including category 3 hurricanes. “That’s going to happen eventually,” said Gribbons.
The idea to form a CERT team in West Windsor came after the police department’s Sam Dyson teamed with Robbinsville six years ago to run the first CERT class. As interest grew, more classes were held.
“About one-third of the people who took these classes stuck around,” said Gribbons. Not only did they stick around, they really wanted to get involved in the community, he said.
About 120 people have taken the classes so far. About one-third are people who come to learn how to keep their families safe. One-third are the group of 40 people who want to keep an organized group in town dedicated to helping in the event of an incident — who form the CERT team. The remainder are those in between.
However, the residents who have remained with the CERT team have worked hard, said Gribbons. Gribbons, who has worked in emergency services for the past 14 years, said he has seen many other groups fall off the map — but not this one.
“This one is going to stick,” he said.
During the National Night Out event, CERT ran its own table of information, where Council President Diane Ciccone got the idea to share the information about the group with the rest of the township.
“To have volunteers like yourselves come forward, my hats off to you,” said Councilman George Borek after the presentation.
Councilwoman Linda Geevers said the township “couldn’t hire enough people to do what you’re doing. You step up to the plate all hours of the day and night.”
Gribbons said that in addition to the new training session for the CERT team, next on the agenda is taking the steps necessary to get the CERT team recognized as a formal group within the township.
For more information on CERT, contact the Emergency Services Department at 609-799-8735.
