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Weston Looks to Create Emergency Response Team

WESTON, Conn. – Weston is considering another step to improve its response during major emergencies.

First Selectman Gayle Weinstein proposed to the Board of Selectmen on Wednesday that the town establish a volunteer Community Emergency Response Team to assist with such jobs as managing traffic flow and dealing with downed power lines so that police and fire officers could focus on other emergency-related tasks.

CERT volunteers are specially trained and must pass a course conducted by emergency officials, such as the police, in order to become certified. Town officials are also looking for volunteers to serve as block captains to provide liaison between their neighbors and municipal personnel during emergencies such as the pre-Halloween snowstorm. 

“We are working with the state and the Westport Weston Health District to get a CERT team in place,” Weinstein told the board. The CERT team members, she said, “are another level of training that we will be able to rely on.” 

Town officials have not set a timeframe for having a CERT team in place. They are still in the brainstorming phase of determing how to get the community involved when a major emergency occurs.

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