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Politics & Government

Chester Borough CERT Team: Assemble

The borough's first Citizen Emergency Response Team is taking shape.

On the heels of two brutal storms over the past couple of years, Chester Borough has decided to assemble a Citizen Emergency Response Team to assist in future emergencies. CERT members, all volunteers, are trained to assist emergency responders under the direction of the Office of the Emergency Management coordinator in local emergencies.

"The OEM coordinator has far more authority during a disaster area than a police department, than a mayor, than a council," Mayor Bob Davis said. "They have so much authority it's almost a dictatorship."

Angelo Bolio, the coordinator for Chester Borough OEM, said the borough is actively seeking citizens to attend the 20-hour training course and become a part of the borough's inaugural CERT team. He also said the the OEM will provide any willing participants with all the necessary supplies and training during the course.

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"The class is open to any resident of Chester Borough," Bolio said. "No experience is necessary and there is no cost to anyone wishing to participate in it."

The CERT team's responsibilities include assisting OEM with various emergency management tasks, such as running a shelter, running a point of distribution of supplies and assisting local emergency response services in the event of a major disaster.

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"The CERT team will be a major asset to us in the Office of Emergency Management and a major resource for our town to utilize in a time of need," Bolio said. "The regular time commitment is small but the importance of having the team is great. Being a part of the CERT team is a great way to help neighbors in a time of need and truly will help to show how resilient Chester can be in that time."

Interested participants are encouraged to e-mail the mayor.

"This is going to be an evolutionary process where we find out how many people we're going to get on our CERT team and then we're going to do training and we're going to go through a number of things," Davis said. "I would hope that people on this council have an interest in getting involved in this CERT team as well. This is something that's critical. I found out, when I was looking for volunteers [for another project on town], I had people walk through the door and say, 'I'll do it, what do you need me to do?' I have a list of about 15 people that [are interested]."

The Chester Borough CERT team is a part of a larger network of CERT teams across the country under the tutelage of FEMA.

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