SAN FRANCISCO—The San Francisco Fire Department Neighborhood Emergency Response Team (NERT), is a community based training program dedicated to a neighbor-helping-neighbor approach.
NERT is a free training program for individuals, neighborhood groups and community-based organizations in San Francisco. Through this program, individuals will learn the basics of personal preparedness and prevention. The training also includes hands-on disaster skills that will help individuals respond to a personal emergency as well as act as members of a neighborhood response team.
On October 17, 1989, the city of San Francisco experienced an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.9 on the Richter scale. The aftermath on San Francisco’s residents led to specific action. The San Francisco Fire Department, prompted by the residents in the city, formed the Neighborhood Emergency Response Team Training Program, which currently provides training in disaster and emergency response. Since 1990 the NERT program has trained more than 24,700 San Francisco residents to be self-reliant in a major disaster.
The purpose of the program is to prepare residents in case a major disaster strikes to be prepared in case first responders or emergency personnel are not able to get to them within the first 72 hours after a disaster strikes. The goal is to teach as many San Franciscan’s as possible that, with basic training, they can make a difference in the lives of their families and others when, not if, they are affected by a disaster large or small.
The 20 hour training consists of six class sessions that are approximately 3 hours each. The NERT Training is free to the public. The San Francisco Fire Department has the following NERT trainings scheduled. You may attend at any location. Enrollment is limited. For individuals looking to host a N.E.R.T. training in your San Francisco neighborhood, you must have 30 sign-ups and an ADA compliant space able to accommodate at least eighty people. If not, contact SFNERT at sffdnert@sfgov.org. Classes will be scheduled based on program need and location. To see a list of days and places where upcoming NERT training courses will be held visit http://sf-fire.org/training-schedule-registration.
