Two Seats Left: Pasadena Fire’s Free Three-Day CERT Course Begins Sept. 19

[photo credit: City of Pasadena]

Pasadena residents who want formal training in what to do in the hours after a disaster have a chance to grab two seats still available in the Pasadena Fire Department’s next free Community Emergency Response Team course, a 21-hour, three-day program that begins Saturday, Sept. 19, at the Jefferson Training Center, 1500 E. Villa St. The department’s registration page listed 33 of 35 spots filled as of Friday.

The course meets that Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 20, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday, Sept. 26, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., with an hour off for lunch each day, according to the Fire Department’s event listing. Registering for the first day enrolls a participant in all three. Attendees must complete all three sessions and pass a final exam to receive a certificate of completion.

The curriculum covers disaster preparedness, CERT organization, light search and rescue, fire safety and basic first aid, the department says, with the goal of giving residents the training, planning and resources to act before professional responders arrive. The department cautions that CERT members are not trained to perform the full range of functions of professional responders; the program is meant to be a bridge to first responders until firefighters can get there.

The three-day CERT course is the department’s most intensive public offering. Its four-hour “Prepared Pasadena” sessions, which teach fire extinguisher use, basic first aid and light search and rescue, have been drawing capacity crowds of 30 since the Eaton Fire, which began Jan. 7, 2025, in Eaton Canyon, burned roughly 14,000 acres and killed at least 19 people. Last September’s three-day course also filled 33 of its 35 seats before registration closed.

Registration is at https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.cityofpasadena.net/fire/event/3-day-pasadena-cert-course-day-1-6/&source=gmail&ust=1788604974728000&sa=E. Questions can be sent to PreparedPasadena@cityofpasadena.net or directed to the Fire Department at (626) 744-7276. Information about the CERT program is at https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.cityofpasadena.net/fire/community-programs/community-emergency-response-team/&source=gmail&ust=1788604974728000&sa=E.