The tornado scenario was set in the fictitious community of “Broken Willow”. Broken Willow is a small rural community, surrounded by open fields, forestland and farms and consisting of 396 homes and 1,663 residents. The age of homes range from the early 1920s through 2009. However the majority of the homes were built between 1959 and 1988.
Because Broken Willow is a bedroom community of the State Capitol most of the residents travel 20 miles to their state government jobs. However, there are residents who work within the Broken Willow community in retail, office and agri-business jobs.
Throughout the exercise participants were challenged to consider how they would respond to a variety of injects with the resources and assets that they have available in their own community and with their own community team.
Injects included:
Identify four additional hazards, other than a tornado, to which the community / neighborhood is vulnerable, then rank the vulnerability to each of the hazards.
List the various disaster preparedness activities your organization undertakes to assist with community / neighborhood preparedness, or if your organization is not involved in assisting residents, identify the name and point of contact information for agencies or organizations that would be able to assist.
Describe three personal protective actions that your organization's members should implement when notified of a Tornado Warning.
Would your organization ever self-mobilize?
Now that your organization has mobilized identify the individual responsible for the various ICS positions. Then briefly describe the responsibilities for each position.
Prepare an Incident Action Plan outlining activities and a timeline to accomplish them.
Describe how communications within your team, and between your team and other agencies will be established and maintained.
Describe the type of assistance your organization might provide to senior citizens and individuals with disabilities or transportation challenges, or identify the name and point of contact information for agencies or organizations which might be able to help.
Identify how your organization deals with various animal issues following a tornado.
Identify other agencies and organizations that your organization will need to work closely with.
Describe how your organization might assist with or set up a Point of Distribution that has been set up to hand out bottled water, ice, tarps, etc..
Local News Coverage
News coverage featuring local teams participating in the Formidable Footprint Tornado Exercise.
Hotwash
All participants were asked to complete a hotwash by providing three things that went well with the exercise for their organization and three things they identified that their organization need to improve upon.
The communication between two separate CERT teams. Capabilities of two teams were emphasized with each having has its own specializations.
Preparedness plans in place.
New CERT members learned a lot from the established CERT members.
Coordination between the two CERT teams was improved and enhanced.
We were prepared with shelter location in place.
The majority of the community’s residents have been trained in what to do.
Having a CERT team in place helps the local fire and police departments.
Was able to see that our training assisted in preparing us to solve problems.
We were able to see why planning and action plans are needed when the incident develops.
Full cooperation and participation by CERT members.
Good opportunity for our team to work together to discuss organization and function with input from fire department on the "Big Picture".
Identified areas for additional training.
Identified additional resources that our team would find beneficial.
CART is prepared for almost any disaster scenario with animal involvement.
CART can respond to a HAZMAT situation if needed.
CART has an excellent inventory of supplies and equipment needed for animal rescue and support.
It brought some of the members together.
Good community cooperation.
Volunteer effort.
Identification of potential hazard and disaster areas.
Group participation and input.
Brought awareness to areas that are lacking in our team / neighborhoods.
Made us identify potential partners that we will need to help victims.
Introduced threats that we were previously unaware of.
Interactive aspects of the exercise were helpful in brainstorming and revealing current procedures and resources.
Gave our team the opportunity to re-examine existing policy / procedure.
Organizing Communication Team members with CERT members that are not radio operators.
Learning about support teams within the region.
Gained a comfort level with fellow team members.
The exercise challenged and confirmed assumptions utilized with our current plan.
The exercise helped assess our level of preparedness planning.
Gave us a good opportunity to review our role during an emergency of this nature.
We have a good means for communication with team members for mobilization.
We have many members with a wide variety of skills.
We have good relationships with the professional first responders.
Good group discussion.
Good brain storming among all team members.
Interaction was between the team members was great.
Re-learning how to respond to such a scenario.
Interaction with EMA Director.
We had a high number of our team members participate.
Everyone was prepared.
Focus and agreement regarding the teams response procedures.
Believing that you can help those that could not help themselves.
Getting the work done in a shorter period of time when it really needs to be.
We have a realistic view of the limitations of the non-governmental organizations in our area.
Most of these issues discussed are issues with we have discussed in our emergency management plans or training.
Great discussion of capabilities in a single sitting.
Having just experienced significant tornado damage and generation of fresh ideas about moving the CERT program forward with additional training and identifying other possible missions for CERT volunteers.
We have a well-developed communications plan to leverage resources for individuals and other organizations.
We have alternate means of communication. Armature radio as well as staff who are licensed operators.
We have a regional plan for transitioning from each of the phases of a disaster.
Organization of the exercise was good.
Incident Action Plan seem to work reasonably good for situation.
Learned more about this possible disaster scenario.
The injects were well written and very realistic.
The videos were true to form and fit the exercise scenario and well-placed in the exercise format.
The injects throughout the exercise definitely made you think, but yet at the same time were not made to stump you.
Scenario detail and timeframe. We were able to assess our abilities based on the injects that were given.
The interactive maps were useful.
Video clips.
We identified our shortcomings and potential issues.
We discovered our vulnerabilities.
We were able to provide referrals where needed.
Identification of potential hazard and disaster areas.
Group participation and input.
The team identified what actions need to be taken following a tornado.
Identifying agencies.
The ONX System worked well.
Videos.
Maps.
Identifying helpful agencies.
Communication.
Being well prepared.
Team work together to complete exercise.
Communication.
Over all our team worked well together.
Great participation from all members and generated a lot of conversation.
Great Team work.
Good review of the Incident Command System.
Previous tabletop exercise was great for preparation / experience. The big factor was the terrible outbreak of the tornados this past week.
We had more CERT member attending today's exercise. Many of our CERT members are cross trained in other volunteer agencies such as DART, Southern Baptists, etc…
The exercise was a good way to evaluate Calvary Church’s emergency plan.
The exercise was a good walk through of a tornado scenario, since that is a common hazard in this area.
I was able to work through the exercise in a timely fashion.
The maps worked well - grateful for the option to bring up in another tab - sped up download.
Good scenarios to consider and to determine how our team would respond
Good communication between members present.
Scenario was believable and plausible.
This was a good opportunity to review our plans, identify gaps and identify ideas for how to improve plans / protocols.
Group participation.
Reminding group members what other group duties are - education and cross training.
Showed us what we need to look at in longer term follow-up after immediate emergency response.
Good attendance from our members.
The ONX System worked well.
Realistic scenario - very thought provoking.
Excellent opportunity to work as a team.
The exercise required us to think beyond the basic CERT requirements / constraints.
The exercise provided realism not otherwise available (videos, maps, etc…).
Provided us with an opportunity to discuss how our team would react and work together after a tornado.
We identify some additional actions we might want to do.
Made us document our plan.
This exercise included animal disaster element.
Our team worked well together in discussing different situations.
Good learning experience.
Overview of the disaster scenario.
Submitting our preparedness plans.
After tornado response.
Open discussion.
Identified modifications / additions to CERT SOP.
Became aware of additional supplies and training that are needed.
Overall description.
Maps were good.
Got to interact with the EMA director
Learned a lot about disaster relief and what my role is as a volunteer.
the exercise brought the team together and helped us with our chain of command structure and allowed the new members to gain an aspect as too what we do and how we do it.
The exercise was put together very well. This was a first experience for us working together, and we think the experience will prove invaluable.
We worked together very well. Everyone had input regarding their thoughts, suggestions and ideas.
Teamwork worked great.
It made us think of any possible resources in the area.
The information presented during the exercise was relevant and good.
The exercise was very informative with useful information.
We were able to learn proper deployment.
Excellent videos.
Excellent injects.
Excellent participation by our team members.
Covered real scenario that reflect the situation that our organization need to be addressed.
The exercise was a team effort that engaged members in good discussion of what resources and planning our organization really possessed. The communication aspect that need to be addressed.
Inventory and logistic concerns and reality check.
We finally got people who do not usually work well to get focused on the task at hand so that they could do the exercise.
People who thought they knew a lot found out that they had a lot have a lot to learn.
Our people learned how to use a map.
I was able to put myself into the play scenario and activate our disaster response plan.
Specific aspects of my plan were relevant and capable of being utilized under any given scenario.
Our plan was flexible enough to allow for changing circumstances.
I found out that I need to know what businesses, railroads, hospitals, food markets, weather patterns and other things that will have an impact on emergencies.
I was able to find a way to communicate with a Spanish speaking person who did not speak a lot of English. At first this was a real challenge, but several of us worked to take care of her needs.
It was very informative and well organized.
It made me realize that there is a lot more things we need to think about and organize.
Team worked together well during the exercise.
Good review of our CERT SOP.
Good interaction of our team members.
Very timely training.
Our team rapidly establish an ICS structure.
Participation from the team was very high.
Open communication.
Focused group.
Participants knew the material.
Good participation from our team members.
The exercise was well organized.
Well-designed scenario.
The discussion among team members and identifying changes needed to our policies, procedures and protocols.
Discussion between team members was very good.
The need to develop written protocols will enhance our team.
Scenarios showed our group that we need a procedures manual or checklist.
Our team needs a phone tree
The exercise was interesting and realistic.
Good review of procedures and policies - It pointed up the areas which need clarification and further work.
Good chance to bring CERT members from various parts of the city to function together and establish a working relationship.
Gave us a chance to digest varying points of view and come to a common understanding.
We had more CERT members attending today's exercise. Many of our CERT members are cross trained with other volunteer agencies such as DART, Southern Baptists, etc…
Group problem solving went well.
Knowledge of CERT procedures was reinforced.
Knowledge of the Incident Command System was reinforced.
Teamwork.
Found we have some proper organization.
All participants worked well together and gave thoughtful concise responses to scenarios.
The exercise was very well organized and thought out.
The exercise was thought provoking.
We quickly recognized our weaknesses and strong points in regards to responding to an event.
We had better group participation with our answers. Even though I do not necessarily agree totally with a few of their answers there really isn't a wrong answer just a different approach.
Very good cooperation by CERT members.
The ONX System made the exercise easy for us to follow and participate in.
Team cooperation was evident.
Each member of the team was encouraged to speak up with ideas.
Our team leader did an excellent job of coordinating the logistics of the exercise.
We had good discussion on what we were expected to do and not to do.
It was a good reminder for those of us that took our training years ago.
Very good collaboration and team work by all participants. Everyone had respect for others and their opinions and suggestions.
We all recognize areas that need improvement.
The CERT organization representation all agrees we need these kinds of refreshers.
We were all pretty much in agreement in what to do when responding to the various injects.
Open discussions among participants.
Realization that we needed additional training, supplies and equipment.
New awareness of resources in our community. For example a amateur radio group in a neighboring town.
The group participation.
Agreement among team members on how to respond to an inject.
Confirmed what our weaknesses are, and although we are a small new group assisted us in identifying our strengths.
Our need to become better acquainted with our walkie talkies and to set up our frequencies. Many of us have short range radios. We need longer range radios in case cell service is out.
A very small group of participants gave us a chance to better organize how we will activate and be assigned to various responsibilities.
Learned that we coordinated well as a team.
Flexibility of group.
The exercise was very well done.
Learned that we coordinated well as a team.
Flexibility of group.
Team worked well together.
Brainstorming among the group.
The exercise was well organized.
We have had a tornado in this county and this exercise was dead on.
Discussion among the team members.
Recognized that our SOP needs to be revised.
Brainstorming ideas about how to respond in tornados.
Providing a simulated situation to push our thinking on responses.
Most participants were providing ideas and responses.
I loved the time clock. It kept us focused on what we were doing.
Chief Sasko was present as were various paramedics and fire personnel. As we had assembled at the fire house where our CERT group meets. They prodded us in using more correct language. We found some areas that we will need to improve with our CERT planning.
As a group we came to an agreement without much effort.
The tornado exercise was applicable to where we live.
Good cooperation.
Good communication.
Our incident plan needs only minor updates.
All the participants participated in the exercise. Everyone was enthusiastic to go thru the session and participate in the learning opportunity.
It was fun to see the team working together, many good practice problems. Good review of our CERT training.
It was a good experience / trial for some possible future training for our CAER (Community Awareness Emergency Response) group. We had a representative from the Amateur Radio and SKYWARN attend to see how it all worked.
Identified areas of improvement in our plans.
Provided analysis of gaps in our plans.
Promoted communication and problem-solving between CERT members.
Team worked well together.
Brought ideas to improve teamwork.
Others can help if prepared.
Entire team worked as a group.
Communication plans worked.
Pre-planning and training works.
Lots of discussion and ideas sharing among team members.
We all seem to come to the same conclusion with little discussion.
Realism of exercise for tornado.
Brainstorming ideas about how to respond to tornados
As individuals we might have approached things differently than we did as a team. We were able to work through the questions and come up with a plan. The section where there were questions regarding the different jobs and responsibilities went very well, when finished we all had a better understanding of the ICS system.
We were able to work as a team when trying to figure the number of homes damaged and the extent of the damage. Initially we approached the map one way and some members suggested another approach that worked better.
The questions regarding the woman with the tree on her house led to discussion. I think initially the humanitarian wants to answer but the correct answer must be the CERT answer. As an individual you can act differently that you can once you have been activated by CERT.
Very informational exercise.
Great videos that went along with the exercises.
This was really a quite good tabletop exercise. Quite realistic as to the nature of incidents the group would encounter.
The Interaction between team members! I found this to be really good. We were able to manage our time well with the 'per section' and overall remaining time clocks. We found that we used a 'reader' to speed along the process. We learned and liked the format as it evolved during the exercise.
The stability of the actual computer exercise was wonderful. We hit the close button before the Hotwash was done - a quick call to the Help Desk was great - reassuring us that all of our responses had not been erased prior to the Hotwash level. Very sophisticated system.
The scenario was very good and the demographics were similar to our community.
Learned to refine our procedures.
Learned our strengths and weakness.
Our group and their knowledge and group reaction to scenario.
Open dialog, exchange of ideas and then consensus on response (with a few exceptions!).
Identified additions or modifications to CERT SOP and possibly changes to town's EOP and annexes regarding CERT activities.
We were all together as a group!
We had more participants than expected.
We had a pretty good discussion due to some seasoned professionals in attendance.
I believe that walking through these exercises is helping our team become more unified where everyone understands how things work out in the field. It's especially good for new team members.
We are a DART team and we were so happy to see that you've included the animal in disaster element to this exercise! Even if that particular element did not involve response from many of the teams participating in this exercise, just as many elements in the scenario do not involve a response from us, it does call attention to that aspect of a disaster that does need to be addressed by someone.
The content of the exercise was complete and required little to no speculation.
We had a good group of CERT members that participated in the exercise, which made for great dialog for each series of events that occurred during the exercise.
I feel our team had a good understanding of what were the crucial steps / plan for scenario we were presented.
This exercise helped us determine where we need to make improvements with additional training and equipment.
The team worked well together.
We had a good review of ICS.
Good conversation and brainstorming analysis.
The information on the severe weather was very informative. We had a general idea on what to expect from the storm.
Communications was a plus for all groups involved.
The maps very well thought out and detailed. We could plan ahead for the next area and try to minimize the effect of the tornados.
The exercise was very informative and educational.
Chance to work as a group and as a team seeing different views of same ideas interesting.
The participation in the tabletop exercise by CERT and Citizen Corps Council members.
Although the exercise guidance stated no right or wrong responses, we as a group felt that we were able to make good decisions based on the information presented or determined.
There were several ideas presented in the exercise that made us think about things that we had not covered. Members were then given tasks related to the specific project presented to gather more information.
Objectives were clearly explained
We found out we were fairly well prepared for a tornado.
There was a large group of CERT members for various communities.
We worked together well to come to a consensus on plans and ideas.
We were able to identify areas where our group is well planned and areas where we still need to prepare.
I thought the overall scenario was well designed.
Questions by design were thought provoking.
Design of program and scenario clearly compelled teams to dialogue solutions and to reflect on your local EOP.
Our group was small enough that we were able to communicate well
Our group had knowledge of resources available.
This was the first exercise that I participated in. It was good to see people use what they learned in the CERT program.
Working with our DART and the input provided from everyone.
Liked the incorporation of pets in the exercise.
The video clips enhanced the exercise.
Made more aware of different possible threats.
Made aware of different needs for personal needs for example water, medical supplies etc…
Made aware of need to talk with family, friends and neighbors about preparedness.
Good communication.
Lessons learned.
The videos were quite effective to convey the type of weather the town was experiencing.
The questions that were asked were written very well and provided deep thought to answer.
The organization was able to work together to answer the questions.
Learned where to meet if cell phones and power is out.
Learned not to do anything unless instructed by the person in charge.
Learned our best options for setting up a make shift shelter.
Opportunity to train beyond the basic CERT course.
Demonstration of the complex interactions that will be required in responding to an actual disaster situation.
Opportunity for local interaction between individuals who are participating in post basic CERT training, but who have completed the basic CERT course at different times.
Communication.
Saw where our SOP needs improving.
Communication between members.
Showed us where changes in SOP need to be made.
Really gave us an opportunity to assess our plan.
All members of the CERT team worked well together to accomplish our goals.
The exercise provided an opportunity to consider several options for dealing with this disaster.
It caused us to realize that we might have to be available to work outside of our current level of comfort with regard to roles and particularly leadership.
The first thing that went well was how stimulating that the exercise was. It got plenty of ideas flowing and was very eye opening to me about the capabilities of the department.
The team participating in the exercise worked very well together. Everyone was able to chime in with their own comments and opinions and all were listened to and included.
The pace of the exercise was excellent. Some of the questions took the full time to answer and others were done quickly enough it allowed for short breaks.
Were able to discuss solutions for possible scenarios that may occur.
We were able to discuss and inform the group of protocols that have already been put in place.
Able to introduce new members of the group to the organization's role in disaster assistance.
Sub teams and groups in our ICS were able to see and hear how other team’s situations / problems were solved. This is more difficult in a field exercise.
Exercise exposed some gaps in our overall emergency plan at Heritage Eagle Bend, foremost is the need for a good pet care plan.
Additional gap would be our need to have a better plan for post-emergency operations.
Even though not locally specific, the exercise allowed members to brainstorm.
It allowed us to use our DOC equipment to complete the exercise.
Allowed us to realize deficiencies with resource lists.
I feel that we all contributed to the exercise.
We took the time to evaluate what we can or would be able to do in an emergency and what we should pass to other organizations.
We had more CERT members attending today's exercise. Many of our CERT members are cross trained in other volunteer agencies such as DART, Southern Baptist and Search and Rescue. This gave us a deeper insight into what to do if CERT is not responsible for the issue.
The exercise provided useful knowledge for being trained.
I learned a lot of good helpful information.
Areas Needing Improvement
Training and practice.
Need to participate in full scale exercises with other agencies.
Equipment and funds from federal government.
Need to make a contact list of local organizations that can assist.
Have all members understand what ICS is.
More participation of members in future exercises.
Our CERT needs resources - trailer, radios and other equipment.
Need a "phone book" of emergency contacts and team member contacts.
Need to be made aware of the larger scope of emergency response operations and the role CERT plays.
Improve communications and call out procedure.
Need more discussion and / or training on CERT's role in the aftermath of an event.
Need to expand CISD.
Need to acquire large truck such as a box truck to facilitate animal rescue and shelter set-up.
Need to look into obtaining radios that can communicate with other first responders.
Planning and preparation.
Resources.
Lots of improvement lessons learned.
Long term needs of survivors.
Need to recruit more community volunteers.
Be sure everyone is prepared at home and in their own neighborhood.
Make sure everyone has a weather radio.
Work within the community prior to a disaster to build relationships.
We have plans we didn't know about.
Adding members to CodeRED.
More collaboration.
Improve channels of communications.
Better understanding of community support services outside of our normal scope of work.
Personal preparedness in order to respond to requested duties.
Need a stress debriefing.
Need more people.
Need a way to get people to participate before an event.
We are not well prepared to be of use to special needs population.
We do not have sufficient numbers of amateur radio operators.
We do not have any specific person(s) assigned to retrieve and move the CERT trailer to an appropriate location.
Learn more about tornados and wanting to do better with everything.
Help others learn about tornados and teach them how they could take better care of themselves.
Need to better define the "organization" we represent and our abilities to provide service
ICS does not necessarily fit all organizations that provide service in emergencies - the organization may operate under an ICS structure and not even really be aware of it.
More specific details in plans.
Now that we understand the nature of the exercises, we should include more people in the exercise.
Need to conduct relevant training and exercises for the entire membership of the organization.
Clear understanding of ICS.
Internal communication plan for staff.
Process for debriefing.
There were some areas or situations brought up by the exercise that were not contemplated by the IAP and / or the organization procedures. They need to be incorporated into the IAP (Incident Action Plan).
Mobilization and demobilization plans could use some improvement.
Since it is not normal disaster to occur in this area, we need more training related to this kind of disaster.
We need better communications tools.
We need more supplies and equipment.
Need far more membership.
Need to recruit more community volunteers
The current emergency plan is primarily focused on the immediate response. The church's role in the larger community could be expanded.
It was hard to play through the search and rescue portion without search and rescue training.
Development of written protocols.
Development of written standard operation procedures (SOP).
Develop job action sheets / checklists.
Pet care plan (work is already in progress) and updated organization chart.
Need more volunteers (and training) for all aspects of our ICS team.
Need to tell ICS members to bring personal supplies and medications with them when reporting.
Need to plan for “instant volunteers” who aren't trained and want to help (need supplies and equipment and on-the-spot training).
Recognizing our scope and boundaries.
Need to identify secondary locations for neighbors to gather for information or help and provide communication tools / hardware for information exchange.
Getting more people to consistently participate in these exercises.
Expand our training to be more prepared to react.
Participate in mock drills to enhance our skills.
Formally document the processes that we have agreed upon and distribute to the team.
Education on working with other teams.
Accumulate more supplies on the DART trailer.
Getting the information out that DART is available and always accepting new people.
Recruit more volunteers
Stress debriefing.
More participation by CERT members and other agencies.
More awareness of the SOP and incident plan development.
All of us can certainly use more training in these types of disasters.
We need to develop more resources (detailed list of names and numbers).
Have better communication with the fire department.
Define a system to understand how far our organization need to prepare to address the need of the community.
Need more training on ICS and planning session and resource allocation, including manpower, materials and expertise.
Need assessment and logistics training.
We need to make sure that we are able to communicate with individuals who use English as a second language and handle people with disabilities.
We should get more information or have more people involved with disaster readiness before the next exercise.
Have a more diverse group of people participate in the exercise.
Specific recovery plans by application need to be reviewed and updated.
Communication methods need to be tested.
It would have helped if all of us had all of the emergency information so that we could help people if they needed it.
The people in the neighborhood should be informed about possible dangers and they should know different terms. I believe that they should start making “being prepared” a habit.
Interaction with other organizations.
Need to revisit our action plans.
Need to review our equipment resources.
Need to have emergency management representative to attend future exercises.
To get all team members weather radios.
To continue to work on training.
Team needs to formalize its processes.
City involvement is low.
Discussion led to protocols that need to be established or reviewed.
A written plan for action needs to be developed.
Jobs / checklists need to be written and communicated.
We need to better set out policies regarding radio use: modes, frequency assignments and procedural training
Better distribute resources so as to make them more readily available to CERT teams in the field.
We need to train more people in use of the Incident Command System.
Upgraded stand-by notification when severe weather watches and warnings are issued.
More exercises with entire cadre of CERT members.
Improved access to and distribution of equipment and supplies.
Our team needs more organization.
Need funding for equipment.
Need to practice.
We need more team members to attend these exercises.
We needed a little more time being able to utilize the maps in answering some of the scenarios.
Better participation from our volunteers.
As a group we realized that we are still seriously lack in our communications process and equipment. We are 100 % dependent on cellular and land line phones.
We are in need of more members.
We are in the process of trying to obtain equipment, such as radios, trailer and medical supplies.
We need to have a phone list of all members.
The DART is not widely known by other organizations and is therefore not always used to its highest potential.
We could use more member participation.
Organization - basically who is in charge for our CERT group (should be first member to respond). Some people are apprehensive about being in the lead - need to recognize this and carry on.
Communication - very key and we need to make sure everyone understands - when we get deployed it will be mass chaos so communication is key.
Know our limits for response. Human nature is to try to deal with everyone that needs help. Sometime out of our training when responding as CERT.
Communication issues since some of us are in a “dead” cell phone area and there are limited radios available.
More co-ordination with other support groups in the area.
More information on hand similar to the maps used in the exercise. This would assist outside aid personnel.
We need to decide on radio communication specifics.
We need a means of coordinating if all goes south.
Call out could be difficult depending on conditions.
Protocols.
Job descriptions for the different job assignments to assure everyone is on the same sheet no matter which job that is assigned.
Revise SOP.
Training and classes for team members.
Increased participation by both team members and other agencies in future exercises.
Additional supplies needed.
Need for more training.
Need for better organization (which they are working on).
Educate area citizens.
Update operation plan.
More members participate.
Continue our training.
CERT Leader could use practice sessions to practice “in-charge” skills.
More team members present for exercises.
Strengthen our overall plan.
Add inventory to supplies on hand.
Improve communication with town agencies.
More people to be involved.
More training.
More involvement with first responder organizations.
More assistance from the community is needed.
Never enough training.
More cooperation from state, county and local emergency management agencies.
More people to be involved.
More training.
More involvement with first responder organizations.
We learned that our initial call out system should be improved. We plan to work on it.
We discussed the need to have our own liaison officer at the EOC to aid in communications with our IC.
We need to update our SOP to include other things that we have trained for.
Our group really focused on our role as emergency communicators in an incident. Really no need for improvement, we could participate easily using criteria in this role...thus, another positive!
Update our policy manual.
Improve our internal documentation.
List of equipment we need.
Quicker preparation of action plan.
Need to focus discussions on inject and not get side-tracked. Could be crucial in an emergency situation to stay focused.
More training with radios for communication and the purchase of a weather radio for each CERT member.
Our CERT group to see the larger picture for how the IAP would be prepared for this type of emergency in our community. Future practice drills for events similar to this exercise that would be a joint drill with the fire department, police department and CERT.
Our CERT group needs to work with the city to have a better understanding of how we will be involved with this type of disaster that could last for days or weeks.
Our CERT team needs more equipment that I feel will be addressed as a group and we get in resolved.
We are in need of team contact information, that was addressed by all and this is something that will be taken care of in a few days for our CERT.
Team communication. We had a hard time with our team trying to communicate within itself. A better plan needs to be in place for the next time.
We don't have a lot of tornados in West Virginia. We have seen an increase in them this year and will need more training for the early alert system and working with our EMA.
After going through the exercise, we should have encouraged more participation from all members.
Some of our policies, procedures and protocols need to be further developed or improved on.
Our EOC could be improved.
We need to disperse our resources.
We need to establish better communications.
For our organization, we need to now identify group leaders and who is in each group that can be contacted and called up at an event or incident.
A means of communication needs to be confirmed if traditional communications are unavailable (cell phones).
Not as a part of the exercise but, in general, more work with other agencies so we know a little better about who all is involved in response/ recovery and what resources are available.
More involvement with general public.
Better planning for remote communications.
More supplies in stock.
Better communication between local participants.
Address the initial CERT response to activation, the initial organizations of the CERT response team, taking into consideration that all members of the volunteer Post Basic CERT organization may not respond as a group, but as individuals arriving at different times due to the unforeseen event of the CERT activation.
Town SOP.
More CERT participation.
The group will need improvement in the area of making the best use of individual strengths and talents.
The group will need to make more definite workable plans to contact one another in the event of a communication breakdown.
The group needs to continue to update the list of resources available in and around the community.
I am very new to the department and wasn’t as familiar with the departments capabilities as the other two participants.
We found that a small problem could be how to integrate the CERT group into the ICS.
Most aspects did not need improving. New members will need training in different protocols and first aid training to be more knowledgeable, but some, including myself, are just beginning in the DART organization, so this will be something that will take some time to learn.
We really need to get our CERT members involved. This exercise we had 11 participants -- that is more than double the previous exercise. Alachua County has 600 certified CERT members on record.
