Fairfield officials hope that when the next emergency strikes the town, a team of volunteers will be ready to assist first responders.

In January, people interested in joining the town’s planned Community Emergency Response Team can get the training they need.

“We can’t rely on the (federal) government as much anymore,” said Stephanie Thibodeau, a town councilor and chair of the Fairfield Economic and Community Development Committee, which organized the training. “We need to have people step up to the plate, do some volunteering, and take care of their communities. We need that now. It’s a whole different paradigm of how we want to make sure we’re safe in our community.”

The 20-hour training is scheduled from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays, Jan. 10 and 17, at the Fairfield Community Center at 61 Water St. 

To register, email [email protected] or call 207-453-7911. The training is capped at 20 participants and is not limited to Fairfield residents.

Topics to be covered include: emergency preparedness, team organization, disaster medical operations, disaster psychology, fire safety and utility controls, search and rescue, terrorism and shelter operations. 

Thibodeau said the idea to start the team in Fairfield stemmed from a federal emergency preparedness grant the town received to update its community center to be used as a warming and cooling shelter. The center cannot be used as a shelter in flooding emergencies, due to its proximity to the river.

As part of that grant, officials held several sessions, and the decision to pursue creating an emergency response team was born out of a recent panel discussion, she said.

“The kitchen has all been updated, the bathrooms are all done, the water faucets are all in,” Thibodeau said. “Now, we just need to train people to man the community center during a sheltering time.”

The Los Angeles City Fire Department first developed the CERT concept in 1985, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The concept gained traction after the Whittier Narrows earthquake in 1987 in California, and CERT became a national program in 1993.

FEMA now reports there are 3,200 local CERT programs across the United States and more than 600,000 people have participated in training since the program’s inception.

In Maine, however, relatively few CERTs exist. Five teams are active across the state, said Kelsey Preecs of the Maine Emergency Management Agency.

In Somerset County, there used to be a CERT based out of Mercer, according to Sara Bickford, deputy director of the Somerset County Emergency Management Agency.

“I think CERT is a really good idea, but it takes a lot of work to get it going and keep people engaged,” Bickford said.

Bickford said the county agency will lead the training for Fairfield and can provide additional support for the team in the future. The county agency could also call on the Fairfield team to assist with responses to emergencies elsewhere in Somerset County.

“It’s dependent really on volunteer availability and whether Fairfield wants to extend that hand,” Bickford said.