Last weekend, the Plantation Bay Community Emergency Response Team held its annual Activation Readiness Exercise.
The exercise took place over four hours on Sunday afternoon at Prestwick Park. Members of the Plantation Bay Community Emergency Response Team were joined by members of Sea Colony’s Community Emergency Response Team as well as trained members of Flagler County’s Emergency Management Team.
The Plantation Bay Community Emergency Response Team was formed near the end of 2010. The team is charged with being trained and prepared to provide assistance to community members in the event of a major disaster situation. Team members are trained in the areas of basic light safety and emergency preparedness skills. The team is sponsored by the Flagler County Emergency Management Team, as well as FEMA.
Members of the Plantation Bay Community Emergency Response Team are not intended to replace fully trained emergency responders. Instead, they are trained to provide care until those emergency responders arrive. Because the team is comprised of Plantation Bay Residents, they are likely to already be on the scene in the event that a major incident or natural disaster should affect Plantation Bay. If such a disaster should block one of the two entrances into Plantation Bay, the Community Emergency Response Team is trained to provide care until those entrances can be cleared.
The Plantation Bay Community Emergency Response Team is comprised completely of volunteers. These residents make a strong commitment to be prepared in the event that they are called upon. They are trained in basic emergency care and are tasked with managing an emergency situation for as long as necessary before emergency responders are able to arrive. Once those emergency responders do arrive, members of the Community Emergency Response Team are trained to switch into supportive roles helping the emergency responders.
The Activation Readiness Exercise that was held last Sunday provided Community Emergency Response Teams from Plantation Bay and Sea Colony the opportunity for additional training in the areas of medical triage, light search and rescue, and incident command operations. This type of training could prove to be life saving if the right type of natural disaster were to occur.
The existence of the Community Emergency Response Team makes Plantation Bay a safer place to live. Residents have volunteered themselves to be counted on in the event of a major incident or natural disaster. If one of your neighbors is a member of the Community Emergency Response Team, you can count on them to know exactly how to handle almost any type of situation that could arise.
If you would like to learn more about or join the Plantation Bay Community Emergency Response Team, you can contact the team’s leader, Ross Hendrix at 386-437-9592