Curriculum

CERT Basic Training is a 20-hour curriculum consisting of six class sessions of approximately three hours, followed by a final exercise. At the exercise, CERT trainees demonstrate hands-on skills in response to a major earthquake scenario.

The Fremont Fire Department follows the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s national CERT curriculum.  Students use the FEMA CERT Participant Manual (Chinese, Spanish). 

Class Session #1: Earthquake Awareness, Preparedness, and Hazard Mitigation

• Earthquake magnitude, history, and probability
• What to do when the ground starts to shake
• Other natural hazards and their potential impacts
• How to prepare before it happens
• CERT program overview

Class Session #2: Basic Disaster Skills

• Natural gas, water, and electrical utility controls: why, when, and how to shut them off
• Types of fire, and using extinguishers to put them out
• Hazardous materials awareness in the home, on the road, and all around you

Class Sessions #3 & #4: Disaster Medicine

• Health considerations for the rescuer
• Opening airways
• Stopping bleeding
• Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment (S.T.A.R.T. Triage)
• Minor injuries and burns
• Disaster Psychology

Class Session #5: Light Search and Rescue

• Rescuer safety, building construction types, and identifying damage
• How to classify damaged buildings
• Building marking systems
• Interior search patterns
• Lifting heavy objects and mechanical advantage
• Carrying a victim

Class Session #6: CERT Organization and Management

• The City of Fremont's Emergency Organization, and how CERT fits in
• Disaster Service Worker Volunteer Program
• The Incident Command System and CERT
• CERT Forms
• CERT and Terrorism

Final Exercise

• Size-up, damage assessment, priorities, resource needs, and hazard recognition
• Extinguishing small fires
• Interior search for reported missing persons
• Triage and treatment of moulage victims
• Extricating a victim trapped by heavy timbers
• Final Examination

Disaster Service Worker Oath and Award of Achievement

CERT Leadership

Coming Soon!

CERT Staging Areas

North

• Area A: Fire Station 1, 4200 Mowry Ave. at Argonaut Way
• Area B: Fire Station 9, 39609 Stevenson Pl. at Stevenson Blvd.
• Area C: Fire Station 10, 5001 Deep Creek Rd. at Paseo Padre Pkwy.

 South

• Area D: Fire Station 3, 40700 Chapel Way at Max Dr.
• Area E: Fire Station 4, 1000 Pine St. at Paseo Padre Pkwy.
• Area F: Fire Station 5, 55 Hackamore Ln. at Warm Springs Blvd.

Fremont Fire CERT Map

CERT Pocket Guide

The CERT Pocket Guide summarizes concepts and skills that CERT Volunteers learn at CERT Basic Training.  When disaster strikes, this handy reference provides preparedness tips, instructions on when and how CERT Volunteers deploy, how they organize, and quick-review checklists for performing core skills such as utility control, small fire suppression, light search & rescue, and S. T. A. R. T. triage and treatment.

Fremont Fire CERT Emergency Pocket Guide, March 2025 edition

CERT Forms

• CERT Situation Assessment Form
• CERT Volunteer Intake Card
• CERT ICS 211
• CERT ICS 213
• CERT ICS 214
• CERT ICS 303

• IS-100: Introduction to the Incident Command System
• IS-200: Basic Incident Command System for Initial Response

Upon completion, please send your certificate to: CERT@fremont.gov

Those who complete CERT Basic Training and wish to become CERT volunteers affiliated with the Fire Department must register as Disaster Service Worker Volunteers under the State's Disaster Service Worker Volunteer Program.

• Disaster Service Worker Volunteer Registration (Spanish)