Learning how to handle an Auburn emergency, one drill at a time

by City of Auburn Communications Manager Jonathan Glover

A famous boxer once said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” At the City of Auburn’s 55th Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) final drill on Saturday, you see the sentiment in real-time.

Here are a dozen or so people from all walks of life: one is a 17-year-old student with bright dreams of going off to college. Another is a photographer who specializes in capturing live music at a moment in time. Over there, a retiree who just wants to help his community. Here, a medical worker.

Each one has hours of training under their belt and a solid understanding of what comes next. The scenario is serious but plausible — a significant earthquake has just ravaged the area and CERT participants have to find, rescue, and treat the injuries of the survivors. They have no idea how many need help, where they are, or what hazards await them. But they are prepared. They have a plan.

And then reality happens. And chaos ensues.

“Help me, help me!” shouts one woman who’s laying in the dark under a pile of rubble. The moulage makeup on her arm is doing a remarkably realistic job at simulating a bone sticking out of her forearm. She’s of course totally fine, but that’s not the point — in an emergency, things get loud.

“Milton? Where are you?” says another woman, who is wandering around. She’s got a massive wound to her right temple, and she looks confused. “I need to find my husband Milton.”

As the team makes their way inside the building, triage starts. One group assesses the obstacles ahead and makes first contact with the survivors. Their headlamps are the only thing illuminating the jagged lines and protruding geometry threatening to snag clothes or trip the careless.

In groups of three or four, sometimes five, they make their way around the perimeter, one team from the right, the other from the left, as one person with a notebook — suitably called the “scribe” — takes notes and draws a map. That’s important for the other teams when they make entrance — where are the people who need help and how much help do they need?

Survivors who only have minor injuries are tagged “Green.” A “Yellow” tag is for minor injuries that require medical attention. “Red” is for serious, life-threatening injuries. A “black” or “stripped” tag means no pulse and not breathing. In other words, dead. The CERT teams prioritize survivors this way to decide who needs help the fastest, focusing limited resources on who they can save.

“This one’s red,” says a trainee in a gray shirt. He’s just found a man in a welder’s mask, his arms badly burned. The man is confused and unable to tell him his name, let alone what happened. “Don’t worry, someone will be back soon.”

As the training goes, the first contract is important, but that’s just it — it’s first contact. Assess the situation, document who you find, and keep going until you’ve made a full loop. Take plenty of notes. Do it quickly, but calmly. Don’t mind the shouting and the screaming and the crying and wandering. You have a plan and to save as many people as possible, a plan needs to adapt to and survive the first punch to the mouth. And the second. And the third. And so on. Thankfully that’s what the CERT program teaches.

Once outside the building, the medical treatment begins. Most of the CERT participants don’t have medical backgrounds, but in a real emergency, that’s how things go. Assess the patients, control bleeding, splint broken bones, cover wounds, and try to keep the survivors calm until help arrives.

“We try to simulate a real-world emergency as closely as we can,” says Karissa Smith, the city’s Emergency Manager, who alongside Emergency Management Coordinator Tyler Turner, administers the CERT class to dozens of volunteers a year. “Auburn is better prepared for emergencies because of these community members who train so that they know how to respond and what to do when the drill becomes reality.”

CERT training is designed to teach community members how to help themselves and the people around them during and after a disaster. It’s a blend of hands-on and classroom education that has participants practicing emergency scenarios and learning skills like emergency preparedness, utility safety, prioritizing medical care, emergency communications, and how to address the psychological impact of disasters.

At the end of the weeks-long course, CERTs find, rescue, and treat survivors. And the final drill — like the one today — is an earthquake scenario, combining every lesson they’ve learned and putting their skills to the test.

Upon completion, it’s graduation. That’s the best part — treats included.

“I remember the first time I spoke at one of these graduations, there was a ‘25’ on the cupcakes,” said Mayor Nancy Backus, moments before the 55th class received their official “CERT” safety vests.

Emergency Management holds CERT classes twice a year in the spring and fall. To register for the fall class and learn more about how to be prepared during an emergency, visit our website and fill out a training application.