Just A Drill: Citizens Respond As Tornado Hits Century

October 23, 2011

As a hurricane moved across the Century area Saturday, the town’s citizens took shelter at the old high school on Pond Street. All seemed well as the hurricane force winds began to die down outside — until the hurricane spawned a tornado. The twister took aim at the shelter, leaving destruction and mass casualties behind. Ordinary first responders from EMS and the fire department were cut off by the storm.

But the town’s CERT members jumped into action, providing search and rescue, and basic medical care until more help could arrive.

That was the scenario that played out Saturday morning as part of a drill for Century’s first graduation class for CERT — the Community Emergency Response Team sponsored by BRACE, the Be Ready Alliance Coordinating for Emergencies.

About two dozen Century CERT members have attended weekly classes since August to prepare to step up and help in the event of an actual emergency or disaster.

“They have done really well; it was really impressive,” said Chris Hamilton, CERT coordinator for BRACE. “Century is ready.”

The Century CERT training was available to Escambia County (Fla.) residents and included basic disaster response skills like fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization and disaster medical operations.

For more photos, click here.

Pictured top: Century town council member Sandra McMurray Jackson (left) and another CERT volunteer held a disaster “victim” Saturday morning during a disaster drill. Pictured inset and below: CERT volunteers search for tornado victims during a drill. Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

Comments

2 Responses to “Just A Drill: Citizens Respond As Tornado Hits Century”

  1. I'm Lost.... on October 25th, 2011 1:12 pm

    I’m lost…..isn’t hurricane season almost over??

  2. good on October 23rd, 2011 9:01 am

    good for you guys :D because Century was not ready and was hit hard by Ivan…we delivered many MREs and water to many people who couldn’t get to them.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News