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Half Moon Bay highlights CERT graduates and neighborhood radio network ahead of fire season
Summary
City staff reported 37 recent CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) graduates, including five high-school participants, and emphasized the citywide ham-radio network and neighborhood leaders as key local resilience assets.
At the Nov. 18 meeting, Todd Sealy, interim public works director, briefed the council and public about the recent CERT fall 2025 basic training completed Nov. 15. Sealy said 37 people graduated from the course and noted that five were high school students from Half Moon Bay High, providing an early pipeline of local preparedness.
Sealy described the training curriculum (hazard survival, radio communications, disaster medical operations, triage, stop-the-bleed and a full-scale simulation) and emphasized neighborhood readiness: CoSide CERT has roughly 542 trained volunteers across 32 neighborhoods and about 179 ham radio operators who can sustain communications when commercial systems fail. "In an emergency ... the folks who will have the most reliable communications are those folks, 179 people, which is a lot," Sealy said.
Why it matters: The city is geographically constrained with limited access routes; staff said community-based responders and portable radio infrastructure can help bridge gaps in the first hours of an emergency. Sealy encouraged residents to register for the spring course and noted a local planning emphasis on Firewise communities and neighborhood-level outreach.
Next steps: Staff encouraged residents to use the Half Moon Bay CERT website for registration and noted upcoming classes to broaden community capacity and interoperability with the Coastside Fire Protection District.
