On Thursday Deputy Chief Thornton and Chief LeBlanc, attended a briefing by the BOCH CERT (Brewster Orleans Chatham Harwich Community Emergency Response Team).

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From the FEMA website: The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program educates volunteers about disaster preparedness for the hazards that may occur where they live. CERT trains volunteers in basic disaster response skills, such as:

 Fire safety

 Light search and rescue

 Team organization

 Disaster medical operations

The CERT program offers a consistent, nationwide approach to volunteer training and organization that professional responders can rely on during disaster situations, allowing them to focus on more complex tasks. ---

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Since the team was formed, they have performed thousands of hours of work for the four towns they support, plus Eastham (regional shelter) and the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. (Set up of Joint Base Housing for Displaced immigrants) In Harwich they have supported our outdoor town meetings, as well as vaccination clinics, and as winter approaches we anticipate their assistance with the Regional Shelter at the Cape Cod Regional Technical High School In 2021 the team performed 2105 hours of service and in 2022 1564 hours to date. The team worked 68 events in 2021 and 58 events in 2022 so far. This is in addition the the hundreds of hours of training the team has done. This is very impressive for a volunteer group. We are grateful for the work that done by BOCH CERT and look forward to continuing to work with them in the future. Harwich Police Brewster Fire Dept Brewster Police Department Chatham Fire Department Chatham Police Department Orleans Fire-Rescue Orleans Police Department