Rescue Grads

By Barry Owens

Photos: Carl Glassman

“Down and sweep, down and sweep,” came the instruction as one by one the members of Tribeca’s Certified Emergency Response Training team worked to douse a small blaze with a fire extinguisher.

CERT team members get a lesson in handling a fire extinguisher from firefighter Charles Hendry.

“Wrap it tight to create more pressure on the wound,” a paramedic advised team members who were wrapping gauze around the victim of a mock head injury.

“If you don’t have a backboard, use a door or a blanket to pull him to safety,” said firefighter Steve Browne, as  the team freed a man from the cardboard boxes and banquet table that represented debris of a collapsed building.

The scenarios presented a final challenge for the more than 30 volunteers seeking certification in emergency response training. The group participated in a final training session last month followed by a graduation ceremony in the community room of Independence Plaza.


“We’re ready to save the world,” joked volunteer Diane Lapson as she donned a shiny green hard hat, part of a

kit provided to team members that also included work gloves, respirator, identifying vest and flashlight.

During the nine-week course, the volunteers were trained in fire safety and suppression, first aid, search and rescue skills, disaster psychology, terrorism, community relations and more.

In the case of a local disaster, blackout or other emergency, the team’s duties could range from controlling traffic to manning volunteer reception areas to administering first aid.

“We will call upon you,” said Joseph Bruno, commissioner of the city’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM), who presented certificates to the graduates.

The Tribeca group is the city’s 23rd CERT team created since the OEM began the training courses after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The courses are modeled after similar training programs in California, where for years teams have helped in managing wildfires, digging out from earthquake devastation and aiding in storm cleanup.

OEM commissioner Joseph Bruno congratulates Xavier Rivera, one of 35 graduates of Tribeca's first CERT training program.
Much of the natural disaster training was replaced, however, by lessons in life-saving in potential emergency scenarios in high-rises, bridges, tunnels and subway lines.

“It’s New York City all the way,” said Cesar Rivera, an interagency coordinator with the OEM.

A final lesson in the finer points of setting an arm splint

The Tribeca team is made up of local residents, including many from Independence Plaza on Greenwich Street and Tribeca Tower at 105 Duane St. Their participation pleased Jean Grillo, who spearheaded the effort to form the team.

“We were able to get people trained from Tribeca’s tallest residential towers,” she said. “That is so important—not only in the case of a terrorist attack, but for fire and other emergencies.”

In coming months volunteers will seek additional training not offered in the course, such as CPR, and will work to drum up community support—and cash—to keep the team supplied with bandages and other emergency items, Grillo said.

“The next thing they’ll need to learn,” said paramedic Gary Smiley, “is how to fund-raise.”

But on this night, it was enough for the team members, many of them eyewitnesses to the Sept. 11 attacks, to take home a diploma certifying that they had been trained in skills that could save their families and neighbors.

“At first I thought ‘Oh, a graduation—this is going to be corny,’” said Lapson. “But in spite of trying to be a cool New Yorker, I was very, very touched by it.”