Residents » Get Trained

Orange City CERT: The Academy and the Team

Font Size: + -
Share & Bookmark, Press Enter to show all options, press Tab go to next option
Print

Train with the Orange Fire Department. Serve your city.

Orange CERT isn't a certificate you file away. It's a standing team of trained residents who serve alongside the Orange Fire Department — staffing City events, teaching preparedness, training for response and recovery, and supporting the City when we activate.

Residents and Orange CERT volunteers walk through the fire department training yard during a disaster skills class.

What members actually do

Most of the work isn't disaster response, and members tell us that's the part they didn't expect. CERT volunteers teach preparedness at community events, staff City functions like the Orange International Street Fair, help run ReadyOrange classes, and train together through the year. When the City does activate, the team is already trained, already credentialed, and already knows each other — which is the entire point of the year-round work.

Members carry City identification and are recognized across the Orange County Operational Area through the Community Mutual Aid Program, the agreement that lets trained volunteers from one city be trusted and deployed in another.

The Academy

The Academy is the full FEMA Community Emergency Response Team curriculum: disaster preparedness, fire safety and utility controls, disaster medical operations, light search and rescue, team organization, and a final hands-on exercise. It's the national standard, taught the same way in every state, which is what makes the training portable and the credential meaningful outside Orange.

We deliver it in a hybrid format. Coursework is completed online at your own pace and the hands-on portions are scheduled in person, so you're not giving up several consecutive weekends.

Orange City firefighters brief a CERT Academy class in the training yard before a hands-on exercise.

Academies run by cohort, not by calendar

Rather than scheduling Academies and hoping they fill, we open one when enough residents have raised their hand. Join the interest list and we'll contact you directly when the next cohort forms — your name is part of what triggers it.

Add me to the CERT list (opens in a new window)

Requirements

You must live or work in the City of Orange and be at least 18 years of age. Class size is limited and all course hours must be completed to receive the certificate. The Academy includes hands-on field skills involving kneeling, lifting, and working in protective equipment — if you have a limitation, tell us and we'll talk through what's workable rather than assuming it isn't. Training, materials, and equipment are free.

Graduates who want to join the team complete a City volunteer application and background check before receiving identification and being placed on the deployment roster.

A resident discharges a fire extinguisher onto a training fire while an Orange City firefighter supervises.

Not ready for the Academy?

Most CERT members started with a single Saturday class. Take ReadyOrange first, meet the team, and decide from there.

Start with the ReadyOrange class

Questions

Joyce Monsees, CERT Coordinator
(714) 744-7477
cert@cityoforange.org

City of Orange Community Emergency Response Team logo.