CERT in Action!
Bay CERT Partners with Red Cross and Community to Respond to Apartment Fire
CERT members recently teamed with the Greater Houston chapter of the Red Cross to help residents displaced by a fire at an apartment building complex in Seabrook, Texas. On February 26, 2011 the four-alarm fire destroyed three buildings, ultimately damaging 46 units and displacing over 100 people.
The CERT was activated by the Seabrook fire chief shortly after the blaze began at 5:00 AM. Through a phone tree, CERT members were asked to report to a local community center to assist in setting up a temporary shelter for residents displaced by the fire. Despite the early hour and short notice, 19 CERT members reported for duty by mid-morning and quickly worked to make the 90 people who needed immediate assistance comfortable. “We called up different area ministries to help with all the children, then we served food, set up bedding, and collected and distributed donated clothing,” said Don Holbrook, coordinator of Bay CERT, which draws members from the town of Seabrook and nearby La Porte. Once longer-term shelter was identified for the various families by Red Cross staff, CERT members worked to drive residents to the new locations.
The CERT members organized the work into shifts and helped the Red Cross staff the temporary shelter for over 24 hours, until it closed on the afternoon of February 27th.
The partnership between the Red Cross and the CERT worked well, according to all involved. “We’re able to get there before the Red Cross can, so we assume the work and get there and then work hand in hand when the Red Cross can arrive,” said Holbrook. “We don’t look at it like a CERT thing or a Red Cross thing; we just work together and see what needs to be done.” Steve Sweet, who was the Red Cross contact for relief efforts after the blaze, agreed that the partnership was very effective: “A lot of time you get different agencies together, they bang heads, but the CERT and Red Cross worked well together.”
That partnership was reprised in April 2011, when another fire at an apartment building in La Mesa also displaced residents. A dozen CERT members worked with the Red Cross from 10:00 in the evening until 3:00 in the morning to find temporary shelter for people displaced by the fire. “Everything happens so fast, you try to accommodate people’s immediate needs,” said Holbrook. “But we’ve got a pretty good team, and I’m proud of them.”
For more information, contact Don Holbrook at donholbrook92@yahoo.com.