Sign up for disaster preparedness classes to learn essential emergency skills. The seven-class series starts May 3 and ends August 2, 2025.
Take emergency preparedness classes with fellow Berkeleyans to learn practical skills you can use during and after disasters.
These classes include skills such as:
- Organizing neighbors into teams to respond to emergencies
- Extinguishing fires
- Finding and rescuing victims using basic tools
- Setting up a medical triage area and performing basic first aid
- Helping survivors cope with the extreme stress after a disaster
You can take any or all of the seven different classes in this series, but those who take the entire series will have the opportunity to become certified by the Berkeley Fire Department to educate and organize others, further building the resiliency of their own neighborhoods and Berkeley as a whole.
Each of these 3-4-hour-long classes will be offered two times in person from May 3 to August 2, 2025, with evening and weekend sessions available.
Play a vital role in your community during a disaster. Register for all classes via Eventbrite as early as one month before each class begins.
Join the series of DISASTER PREPAREDNESS classes
Sign up to attend Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) classes in person at the Fire Department Division of Training, 997 Cedar Street.
Registration opens one month before each class begins and will close once all 30 spots are filled. If you cannot attend a class, please cancel your Eventbrite reservation to open up a spot on the waitlist. Sign up for the Berkeley Ready newsletter to receive updates about upcoming classes.
Each unit in the series will give you hands-on experience in dealing with disasters that can impact Berkeley. Some units build on previous topics and knowledge and require prerequisites from the series, but otherwise, you can take the classes in any order.
Unit 1: Disaster Preparedness
Saturday, May 3, 2025, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Saturday, May 31, 2025, 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
- Understand the types of disasters that can happen in Berkeley, such as wildfires, earthquakes, and tsunamis, and learn how to be prepared
- Learn the first steps you will need to prepare for an emergency
- Get help making a disaster plan for your family and community
Unit 2: CERT Organization
Thursday, May 15, 2025, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Saturday, May 17, 2025, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
- Practice your emergency responses with others
- Organize others into teams based on organizational structure for incidents
- Learn how to collect disaster information while prioritizing safety
Unit 3: Disaster Medical Operations I
Saturday, June 7, 2025, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Thursday, June 12, 2025, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
- Identify and practice treating the three most common life-threatening conditions following a disaster: airway obstruction, bleeding, and shock
- Use potentially life-saving interventions to stabilize a survivor
- Perform basic first-aid care for several common non-fatal injuries like fractures, dislocations, sprains, and strains
Unit 4: Disaster Medical Operations II - (Prerequisite: Unit 3)
Thursday, June 26, 2025, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Saturday, June 28, 2025, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
- Set up a medical triage area and perform basic first aid
- Assess people for wounds and injuries
- Continue first aid topics started in Unit 3, Disaster Medical Ops I: how to dress and bandage wounds and treat burns, fractures, dislocations, sprains, strains, bloody noses, bites, and stings
Unit 5: Disaster Mental Health
Thursday, May 8, 2025, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Saturday, May 10, 2025, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
- Help survivors, civilian responders, and others cope with extreme stress after a disaster
- Hear personal accounts from people who have helped during disasters
- Learn how to prepare yourself, your loved ones, and neighbors for emergencies
Unit 6: Fire Safety and Utilities
Thursday, July 10, 2025, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Saturday, July 12, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
- Learn successful fire prevention strategies like when and how to turn off utilities
- Practice operating portable fire extinguishers and learn the correct way to extinguish fires
- Classify a fire and identify potentially dangerous materials
Unit 7: Light Search and Rescue - (Prerequisites: Unit 3 and Unit 4)
Saturday, July 26, 2025, 9:00 am – 1:00 pm
Saturday, August 2, 2025, 9:00 am – 1:00 pm
- Learn how search and rescue operations work
- Practice using basic tools effectively to find and rescue victims
- Learn how to search for disaster survivors in areas of moderate damage
Learn valuable emergency preparedness skills
After a major disaster, first responders may have to first address more urgent priorities away from your neighborhood. CERT training teaches you how to take care of yourself, your family, and your community until first responders are able to assist.
CERT training is a national program supported by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). In Berkeley, our CERT classes will help you learn about the City’s emergency response system and give you hands-on experience in creating an emergency plan to act quickly and effectively in the critical moments right after an emergency.
Create community connections
By signing up for classes, you will connect with a strong disaster preparedness community, including the Berkeley Fire Department, other City staff, CERT instructors and trainees, and passionate neighbors.
Through your community connections and guidance from neighborhood CERT leaders, you will learn how to organize and support your friends, family, and neighbors in times of need.
In CERT classes, you will:
Learn from experts and people with lived experience
Collaborate with other Berkeley residents and neighbors
Practice and feel confident in your ability to help others
Sign up for CERT classes to build emergency networks with others, know what to do during disasters, and stay connected.
Links
- Sign up for CERT classes (Eventbrite)
- Community Emergency Response Team (City of Berkeley)
- Community Emergency Response Team (FEMA)
- Get updates from the Berkeley Ready newsletter (City of Berkeley)
