BRICK – During a 2021 forest fire that started near Lakewood Airport and quickly grew out of control, hundreds of firefighters from all over Ocean and Monmouth Counties responded to the emergency, which ultimately consumed 167 acres and damaged 29 Brick homes.
It’s during these types of disasters for which the township’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) has trained. Citizen volunteers from the organization assist first responders – such as the police, firefighters and emergency medical services – and serve as “second responders,” said the township’s CERT president Tom Zdyrski, since first responders “can’t be everywhere.”
The CERT concept was developed in Los Angeles after the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake when buildings collapsed, gas lines exploded, and people were in need of medical attention. Untrained residents tried to help, which sometimes worsened the situation. CERT became a national program in 1993 and there are now CERT programs in all 50 states.
During the forest fire in Brick, the township opened up a shelter at Drum Point School, which gave the firefighters a place to take a break and served as a refuge for some of the homeowners who were displaced.
Zdyrski recalled that an elderly woman, who was crying and clearly distraught, came into the shelter because she was unable to get to her home in Manchester since the southbound roads were closed.
“She said she didn’t know where to go, she kept getting turned back, so we gave her some coffee and a piece of pizza and we just listened to her,” he said. “We just let her talk until she calmed down and they reopened the roadways.”
CERT members were deployed during a 2023 fire at a senior complex on Chambers Bridge Road, when they helped the residents evacuate to their assigned locations, and also during a 2018 flood at Greenbriar 1 when more than 100 homes were flooded.
Residents at the adult community evacuated to their clubhouse while CERT volunteers brought in food, warm clothes and other necessities.
“They were elderly people and they were just devastated,” Zdyrski said. “One woman kept asking ‘when can I go back to my home?’ but she had four feet of water in her home.”
CERT operates under the Brick Police Department’s Office of Emergency Management, under Deputy Emergency Coordinator Joseph Pawlowicz, who reports to the deputy police chief.
Pawlowicz said that CERT members receive about 30 hours of initial training, two to three hours a day on nine consecutive Saturdays. Volunteers get certified in CPR and defibrillators. They receive training on missing persons, fire safety, crime scene investigations, electrical safety and more. Once they finish the training, they become a CERT member.
Photo by Judy Smestad-Nunn
Evening meetings, held every other month, include disaster-preparedness lessons or feature guest speakers. Recent topics at the meetings have included weather events, helping the hearing impaired, traffic control, first aid and crowd control.
CERT also provides support during non-emergency events, such as Summerfest, Night Out Against Crime and Trunk or Treat, where they help with crowd control, can assist residents with special needs, and serve as a set of eyes and ears for the police.
Glenn Steinhandler, 54, who works as a solutions architect for a global company, has served as a CERT member in Brick for nine years.
“I’ve always been very interested in the whole area of emergency management, and this has been a good area to get involved,” he said. “It was a low threshold, because the commitments to some of the other emergency management options – like EMT or working in the firehouse – as much as I find those really intriguing, I just don’t have the time, but I still wanted to contribute.”
Steinhandler said he finds it fulfilling when CERT members get called out and engage with the public. “You feel like what you did mattered,” he added.
CERT has no budget for their training, equipment or the items they provide, and are funded in part by the mayor’s office under the Brick Police Department Office of Emergency Management.
There are currently 25 CERT members, but Zdyrski and Pawlowicz said they are always looking for new members aged 18-80.
For more information, visit bricknjcert.samariteam.com or call Pawlowicz at 732 262-1167.
The post When An Emergency Hits, This Community Responds appeared first on Jersey Shore Online.
