Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Nert topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
San Francisco NERT reports surge in volunteers after UASI funding, plans continued multilingual outreach
Summary
Fire Department presenters said Neighborhood Emergency Response Team (NERT) training has expanded with UASI dollars, reporting thousands trained historically and continued growth in classes and certified volunteers, with courses offered in English, Chinese and Spanish.
Lieutenant Erica Articeros briefed the council on the Neighborhood Emergency Response Team (NERT) program and reported significant growth after recent funding. Articeros said the program has trained more volunteers this year, benefited from UASI funding and expanded outreach and advanced training opportunities.
She said the program has trained more than 15,000 people cumulatively since its inception and maintains an active mailing list of about 8,000 names. In recent years the program trained roughly 1,400 volunteers and expects to reach about 1,800 this year with planned classes. Articeros described a curriculum that includes incident command system training, ham radio licensing and hands‑on heavy‑rescue drills to make volunteers interoperable with city agencies.
Articeros said the program provides classes in English, Chinese (Cantonese) and Spanish and that SFGTV has aired segments of the NERT 20‑hour core course. She encouraged departments and neighborhood groups to use the NERT structure for local preparedness and noted the program’s emphasis on neighborhood leadership and personal preparedness.
Council members and staff discussed supplies and responder support, and fire‑department presenters said federal funds had recently been used to stock MREs and bottled water for staff and stations.
