On August 5th, the 25th anniversary of National Night Out (NNO), almost 150 adults, parents, children, and several family pets of Daventry and Ramblewood Homeowners Associations (HOA), attend NNO activities at the Daventry Community Center and pool. VA Delegate Dave Albo attended the entire evening and Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity made an appearance.
Children's activities included fun, games and activities around "Say No to Drugs" campaign and anticrime activities. Parents, in addition to having a chance to talk with VA Delegate Dave Albo and Supervisor Pat Herrity, were provided food, water, and lots of literature on child ID kits, crime and drug prevention, Identity Theft, home and fire safety, after-school safety, Neighborhood Watch, Citizen Emergency Response Team (CERT) and Fairfax County's Community Emergency Alert Network (CEAN), just to name a few.
Officers and representatives from Fairfax County Police Department, Fire and Rescue Department, and our own Steve Richardson, CERT 14, were on hand to answer residents' questions.
"Hands on" activities included a police cruiser from the Springfield District police station where YOU could turn on the lights and sirens. How cool is that!
Engine 427, led by LT Corey Matthews from Station 27 responded and provided a refreshing quench to the evening's warm temperatures. The Engine 427 crew laid out the "booster line" and invited all to take a turn, practicing with the hose. What a "blast" or should I say "spray" from the hose kept many of the younger generation pretty excited.
A good time was had by all at this year's Daventry/Ramblewood NNO activities. Huge thanks go out to Anna Jensen, Daventry Safety Neighborhood Watch Coordinator, and Christine Wells, Daventry Safety Chair for coordinating this years events It gets bigger and better each year.
 Steve Richardson, CERT 14, along with Daventry HOA Board President Dick Ginn and his wife, Angelica, enjoy Daventry/Ramblewood NNO activities.
Neighborhood Watch News
The Crime Prevention Unit has two new officers. PFC Kevin Horan (pronounced Horn) can be reached at Kevin.horan@fairfaxcouty.gov or 703/644-5026 and MPO Pete Feigleson can be reached at peter.feigleson@fairfaxcounty.gov or 703/644-5046. Please feel free to give them a call if you have any questions or concerns. They will be more than happy to talk to you.
The West Springfield Crime Prevention Unit publishes a monthly newsletter apprising citizens of upcoming events and crime that has occurred in the district. This is a once a month email that you receive from the police station. If you would like to receive the West Springfield Shield a free monthly newsletter produced by the Crime Prevention Unit you may subscribe by visiting: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police/newsletter/.
Anna Jensen
Neighborhood Watch Coordinator
Fairfax County's New Tiered CERT Program
On July 1, 2008, Fairfax County implemented a new three tiered CERT training system. This new system was designed to solve two major problems. First, because our CERT program is very much hands on and advanced compared to some other programs, it was difficult to provide training anywhere but at the Fire and Rescue Academy. We needed a way to take CERT training to the citizens throughout the county. To do this, we created CERT Level 1. This class is based on the FEMA 21 hour CERT Curriculum. (Our normal CERT training course goes above and beyond the FEMA curriculum and is 32 hours in length.)
Our CERT Level 1 will remove the patient carries and extrication components from the curriculum. This will be similar to how other local jurisdictions provide training.
We are excited about CERT Level 1 and would love to have some volunteers assist us with getting some of the classes off the ground! If you know of a group, association, church, or organization that would like to host a CERT Level 1 class, please tell them about it! They will need at least 12 people and a classroom. We'll do the rest! If you'd like to help spread the word, please let me know. We're looking for people to assist in the marketing efforts!
CERT Level 2 is what we are now calling our existing CERT course. This is the same CERT course most of you have taken. As such, most of you are CERT Level 2 already! It will remain the same. It is still the same 32 hours in length. The next course is starting in October. This will be CERT class 34! Do you believe there has been that many? Due to the hands on nature of the course and to safety concerns, CERT Level 2 will only be taught at the Academy.
There will be a "bridge" course developed that will take a CERT Level 1 person and give them the skills to be a CERT Level 2.
You can read the press release at:
http://fairfaxcountycert.blogspot.com/2008/07/cert-1cert-2-and-cert3-more-excitement.html
CERT 34 Class Schedule
The next CERT Level 2 class (CERT 34) will be held at the Fire and Rescue Academy from October 8 through November 22nd. We will need many actor/victims for this class and this is a great opportunity to get refreshed! All classes are from 7:00pm until 10:30pm except for the final exercise which will be held from 8:00am until 4:30pm. If you know someone, send them to newcert@fairfaxcountycert.org!
10/8 - CERT Intro
10/15 - CERT Incident Management
10/22 - CERT Hazard Awareness
10/29 - CERT Triage
11/5 - CERT Medical
11/12 - CERT Lifting and Cribbing
11/19 - CERT Scenarios
11/22 - CERT Full Scale Exercise from 8:00am to 4:30pm
Derek Rowan,
Fairfax County Lead CERT Instructor |
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