Chula Vista’s Citizens Emergency Response Team and the Fire Safe Council recently offered safety preparedness classes to residents and first-responders.
A free two-day Mental Health First Aid course took place this month at Chula Vista Fire Station 4 at 850 Paseo Ranchero.
The curriculum was designed to improve people’s mental health literacy and offered participants a classroom setting to learn how to respond to psychiatric emergencies until professional help arrives.
“The intent behind this course is to educate our first responders, as well as residents, to understand when they are responding to a subject or a victim to always keep in mind that some folks will have some type of mental health situation that we need to be aware of,” said Hugo Bermudez, program manager for the Chula Vista Fire Department CERT program and fire safe council.
Upon completion of both sessions, participants received certification that needs to be renewed every three years.
Bermudez said he is not aware of an increase of mental health cases in Chula Vista. But the class, he said, was a proactive approach for handling mental health situations because most people do not understand patients with autism or Alzheimer’s.
“We want people to make sure that if somebody has some kind of condition, they know how to approach that person, they know how to talk to them and who to call for those kind of things,” Bermudez said.
A different class for public safety training will be offered next month.
On Oct. 7, the Chula Vista Fire Safe Council, in partnership with the Fire Safe Council of San Diego County and the Resources Conservation District of San Diego County, will offer a Wildland Urban Interface Workshop. Focusing on fire prevention and fire behavior education in Chula Vista, the one-day class will teach residents the principles used by firefighters in suppression of a wildland fire and protecting structures in the Wildland Urban Interface.
That workshop will be held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Fire Station 4. This workshop includes a field trip to apply the classroom education to real-life scenarios within Chula Vista.
Workshop discussion will include good and bad examples of defensible space preparation, fire-wise construction of homes, chimney and saddle topography.
Register for the class at: http://www.chulavistaca.gov/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/10994/2854?curm=10&cury=2017
The last set of classes is a First Aid, Utility Meters, and Fire Extinguisher class. This class is offered from 6 to 8 p.m. on Oct. 19.
Bermudez said this class came to be about after hearing that many community members did not know how to properly use a fire extinguisher or know how to shut off a gas meter.
”You’ll be surprised how many people don’t know how to use a fire extinguisher,” Bermudez said. “As simple as it sounds you’ll be surprised how many people actually show up to our training say ‘ I know how to use one’ and then when we put them out there to use on live fire, we find out that they struggle with (using) it.”
The first hour of class teaches participants how to correctly use a fire extinguisher, teaches them basic first aid and teaches them how to shut off gas meter.
At the completion of the course, participants will receive a free small fire extinguisher and a free wrench to shut off gas meter.
