Municipal Achievement Award 2004 – Federal Way
City of Federal Way Prepares Citizens to Prepare For Disaster
Project Statement
The City of Federal Way has developed two disaster preparedness programs that are offered at little or no cost
to citizens. The programs are Community Emergency Response Teams (or CERT) and Neighborhood
Response Teams (or NET). In this time of increasingly limited budgets, how are these vital programs possible?
The answer is by forming partnerships with area agencies, businesses, and non-profit groups.
Project Summary
The Greater Federal Way area has a population of over 100,000 residents. In case of an earthquake or other
disaster, these residents will look to the city for services and assistance. Rather than wait until disaster strikes,
we have taken a pro-active approach in this arena and are preparing citizens for the worst before it occurs.
CERT Program
The CERT program is offered twice a year and is based on curriculum developed by the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) and includes a total of 23 hours of training divided into eight classes.
For a $25 fee CERT graduates receive training materials, a student handbook, and disaster supplies including a
hardhat, safety vest, goggles, whistle, flashlight, gloves, and a dust mask. By the final class, CERT students are
required to have assembled a safety kit with equipment to be used in an actual emergency. Graduates’ skills are
tested during an emergency drill with live “victims” whose wounds have been applied with stage makeup.
Since 2002, 130 people been CERT trained in Federal Way.
The basic cost to stage a CERT course for 25 students is $1,247, and is broken down as follows:
Certificates (printed in-house)
Student handbooks
Safety vests
Emergency Management patches
CERT stickers for hardhats
Hardhats
Safety glasses
Dust masks
$ 30.00
$ 32.00
$325.00
$ 38.00
$ 13.00
$125.00
$124.00
$ 10.00
This cost is defrayed by the registration fee which covers approximately half the listed expenses. Police and
Fire Department personnel are paid through their agencies’ budgets. Some of the instructors are volunteers and
participate in the program without compensation. There are some one-time costs associated with the CERT
program. In 2003, the City of Federal Way recognized the importance and success of the CERT program by
including $4,370 of one-time funding and $3,050 of ongoing funding in the 2003/2004 budget. The program
also received a $1,000 grant from the Weyerhaeuser corporation in 2002 and receives small in kind donations
from local businesses and individuals on an intermittent basis.
There is no question that the classes are most effective when presented by emergency professionals. However,
the program budget is too small to allow for the hiring of such professionals. This hurdle has been overcome
through partnering with other agencies, businesses and non-profit groups. The following class matrix highlights
some of the partnerships made with other community members:
Municipal Achievement Award 2004 – Federal Way
Class
Trainer
Disaster Preparedness
Neighborhood Program
Coordinator, City of Federal
Way
Fire Safety & Incident
Public Education Officer,
Federal Way Fire Department
Command System (ICS)
Light Search and Rescue
Operations
Disaster Medical
Operations I and II
Police Support Officer, Federal
Way Public Safety Department
Emergency Medical Technician,
private citizen volunteer
Terrorism and CERT
Police Officer, Federal Way
Public Safety Department
Disaster Psychology
Executive Director, Charteris
Foundation
Various Trainers
Drill and Graduation
Curriculum
Overview of course
Personal and family preparedness
When and how to fight a fire
Principles of ICS
ICS practical application
Principles of search & rescue operations
Recommended safety equipment
Identifying and treating disaster-related
injuries
Triage techniques and practical application
When and how to enter a damaged building
How to lift heavy objects
Basic search and rescue drill
Principles of disaster psychology
Review and final exam
Practical disaster drill
Graduation
As is indicated by the class matrix, the partnerships the City has formed with other local entities is critical to the
quality of the training provided to citizens.
NET Program
While the CERT program is an exciting and effective disaster preparedness program, we wanted to find a way
to go into neighborhoods and provide basic preparedness principles at no cost to Federal Way residents. This
has been accomplished with a pilot NET program that we began in 2004. Our NET program is similar to the
Block Watch concept in which trainers are invited to a neighborhood meeting to discuss disaster preparedness.
We have developed a curriculum that teaches personal and neighborhood disaster preparedness in a series of
neighborhood meetings. The meetings are formatted as follows:
Meeting Number
One
Topic
Personal and Neighborhood
Preparedness
Two
Initial Neighborhood Disaster
Plan
Three
Four
Tabletop Exercise
Walkabout
Curriculum
Family disaster plan and
emergency kit
Mitigating household hazards
Neighborhood considerations
based on location and population
Functional disaster team training
Neighborhood disaster plan
formulation
Plan review and tabletop exercise
Walk around neighborhood and
discuss preparedness steps;
considerations regarding location,
hazards, etc.; needs of residents
(e.g., shut-in, young kids, etc);
and location of utilities.
Municipal Achievement Award 2004 – Federal Way
As in the CERT program, we were faced with the task of offering quality training at no cost to the citizens on a
very limited budget. In the case of NET, this challenge was met by partnering with a local AmeriCorps team.
This team is made up of 36 energetic and highly-motivated individuals who work within the Federal Way
School district and are already familiar with the local population. The AmeriCorps team was provided with
CERT training. We then developed a NET train-the-trainer course and curriculum, which we delivered to the
AmeriCorps members in March of 2004. The NET program has been marketed through a press release, the city
newsletter, and word of mouth. We have currently conducted two NET meeting with a total of 45 attendees.
There are six more meetings currently scheduled. The NET program is coordinated and conducted by
AmeriCorps members with the City only covering the costs for staff oversight, neighborhood maps, and training
material.
Conclusion
The primary and most obvious benefits of these program will be realized in the event of an actual disaster.
Trainees are taught to be self-sufficient for three days. They will be prepared to take care of themselves and
their neighborhoods so that first responders will be free to respond to emergencies in other areas. CERT
graduates will be prepared to assist first responders.
Another benefit of this program that has been realized by the City of Federal Way and its program partners is
that many participants become engaged and responsible volunteers. They have volunteered to install smoke
detectors for low income families, act as victims for area-wide disaster drills, participate in safety fairs and
community events, and help with environmental activities such as park clean-ups and weed pulls. Program
participants are among the first citizens the city will contact if faced with an immediate need for capable
volunteers in an emergency.
The training that participants receive also gives them knowledge and confidence to take charge in every day
situations. For example, Federal Way CERT graduates have been invaluable assisting at a vehicle accident and
helping to evacuate a hospital during a tornado. In both cases, the CERT graduate acted with knowledge and
confidence that they gained from attending the CERT courses. Because of the training they received, many
Federal Way CERT and NET trainees have served as safety officers at work or have prompted their employers
to formulate disaster plans.
Both programs have the added, if less measurable, benefit of bringing together community members for a
common cause. CERT graduates learn to act as a team with fellow citizens and first responders. NET
participants gather with their neighbors, sometimes for the first time. The CERT training offered by the City of
Federal Way benefits the city government and the community as well as the citizens who attend the courses.
Preparedness and peace of mind are just two of those benefits.
Municipal Achievement Award 2004 – Federal Way
Drill “victims” from local high school
AmeriCorps Team
Municipal Achievement Award 2004 – Federal Way
Search and Rescue Drill
Search and Rescue Drill
Monda Holsinger,
AmeriCorps and Greg
Vause, Federal Way
Police in front of Federal
Way Fire Dept truck