Community Emergency Response Team Marks Five Years Supporting Lower Cape First Responders

From power outages to a pandemic, the Lower Cape’s Community Emergency Response Team has seen plenty of duty in its first five years. And organizers say it continues to prove the value of using volunteers as a force multiplier for first responders.

 “I was in the very first class of the CERT team that started in 2019,” said Corey Barker, operations officer for the all-volunteer group that covers Brewster, Orleans, Chatham and Harwich, known as BOCH CERT. The team was officially activated on Feb. 6, 2020, at the onset of COVID-19. 

 “The team was stood up and trained and immediately called up to help the towns with the response to the pandemic,” Barker said. 

 During those initial uncertain weeks, CERT volunteers staffed drive-through testing clinics and later vaccine clinics. “The cars would line up for blocks and blocks,” he said. Later, the CERT group carried out essential errands for people who were homebound during the pandemic, “when people were scared to go to the grocery stores and the drugstores, especially elderly folks,” Barker said. The pandemic work was a critical first test for the group.

 “It put a lot of stress on the team, but our team is very well-trained and we became very efficient” at conducting drive-through service operations, known as points of distribution sites. The same skills will be useful for the bulk distribution of supplies in other types of future disasters.

 Currently with 52 members, BOCH CERT has performed more than 10,000 hours of work in its first five years, both during and between emergencies. 

 “Training’s a big part of what we do,” Barker said. Volunteers take part in classroom training and online classes, as well as hands-on training in skills like stop-the-bleed and CPR, and they practice those skills in the field “so the team knows how to work together,” he said. 

Part of a national program that started in Los Angeles in 1985, CERT teams are now present all around the country, helping first responders with tasks like directing traffic, staffing shelters and assisting with light search and rescue work. When a strong blizzard caused regional power outages in January 2022, CERT was mobilized to help staff a shelter at Nauset Regional High School for 72 hours while also supporting warming stations in Brewster, Orleans and Chatham. Those stations gave residents a place to warm up and charge up their phones while utility crews worked to restore power.

 More recently, when there was a risk that the Harwich public water supply had become contaminated as a result of a structure fire just over the line in Dennis, CERT was pressed into action.

 “That really showed our expertise in being called up quickly,” Barker said. “We had our team activated within an hour, distributing water to locals.” 

 Chatham Fire Chief Justin Tavano said the team has been a crucial and reliable layer of support for first responders in all four towns.

 “During periods of high demand, when resources are stretched thin, and during special events, the team has stepped in to provide supplemental services to town staff in the form of crowd and traffic control, logistics and planning, and point of distribution services for town sponsored vaccination clinics,” he said. The team was particularly valuable during the pandemic and the Harwich water emergency but is also useful between emergencies, he said.

 “The team has also been especially supportive of the town of Chatham during special events such as the Independence Day parade and fireworks, First Night celebration, road races, and the annual town meeting,” Tavano said. “The volunteers are professional, easy to work with, and the team’s leadership is extremely competent and dedicated to enhancing public safety and the overall emergency response framework.”

 Under the leadership of team Coordinator David Miller of Chatham, a retired fire captain, BOCH CERT is seeking to expand its volunteer base. 

 “There’s a complete spectrum of abilities and ages that can volunteer for the CERT team,” Baker said. While some jobs — like distributing supplies — require some heavy lifting, there are jobs for people with limited mobility as well, like running a shelter registration table or supporting communications. Initially, the team required a training regimen that involved three-hour classes twice a week, but the training is now more gradual with more online classes. 

 “It’s not so classroom-heavy, and people can do the training on their own time,” Barker said. For information about joining the team, visit www.BOCH-CERT.org or email contact-us@boch-cert.org.

 The local CERT team enjoys strong support from the towns and from Barnstable County, Barker said, with grants covering the cost of equipment. The team has two trailers in Chatham ready for rapid deployment: one contains various supplies and the other can function as a command post.

 The group’s broad training program means it will be well suited to help in all kinds of future emergencies, including ones nobody’s considered yet, Barker said. But whether it’s staffing first aid stations or directing traffic, CERT will continue to be a key support for local police and firefighters.

 “We’ll do the jobs that allow them to do their jobs, serving the community directly,” he said.