The City of Santa Clarita is offering a seven-week Community Emergency Response Training (CERT) program designed to teach residents basic survival skills in preparation for disasters such as earthquakes, fires, floods, hazardous incidents, and other life-threatening situations.

The CERT Spring session will begin on Thursday, April 12 and will continue every Thursday evening through May 24, 2012.  The class time is 6 to 9 p.m. every Thursday.

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Taught by Los Angeles County firefighters, participants will learn to treat life-threatening conditions through a method used by first responders called Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment (S.T.A.R.T).  By the end of the course, trainees will be able to identify the proper courses of action and organize available resources based on the disaster situation at hand.

CERT also incorporates table top exercises and realistic simulations to illustrate topics such as search and rescue operations, terrorism, disaster psychology, and medical operations.

Certified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the CERT program requires no previous knowledge to participate and trainees must be 18 years or older to participate.

Registration is now open and prospective participants can register online until spaces are filled.

For more information on the CERT program, please call (661) 250-3708 or visit santa-clarita.com.