California emergency services officials warned of the dire need for more trained volunteers in Los Angeles, Friday because of the threat that first responders will be overstretched when a major disaster strikes the region.

Mark Ghilarducci, Secretary of California Emergency Management Agency, told attendees at the Statewide Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Conference, that devastation after a high magnitude emergency would be catastrophic in California due to the sheer number of people that would be affected. Because of this, Ghilarducci said more trained volunteers are necessary.

The CERT Conference 2013 was held in the Cerritos Sheraton Hotel (Kiran Kazalbash)

“I get briefings all the time about the impact these disasters are going to have and I know our public services will be stretched,” said Ghilarducci. “ That is why having enough (CERT volunteers) is so important. They are the first of the first responders.” 

Volunteers from 20 California counties and over 100 cities were represented at the three-day paid conference in Cerritos, where they were able to connect with organizers and attend hands-on workshops to sharpen their emergency response skills.

California Volunteers, Area E Disaster Managment along with the LA County Chief Executive Office, LA County Sheriff’s Department and the Office of Emergency Management partnered together to host the event themed “Building Stronger Communities Together.” In attendance were Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby and LA County Assistant Sheriff James Hellmold.

Frank Borden, a retired Los Angeles firefighter and founder of CERT, said the goal of the organization is to train volunteers to respond in disaster situations, in addition to assisting their communities in cases of smaller-scale emergencies.

“It doesn’t always have to be a big disaster,” said Borden in an interview. “If the person next door has a medical problem or a gas leak and you’re a trained CERT volunteer you can help them before the fire department even gets there, because minutes count.”

Lilian Yong, a first-time conference attendee, said she and her husband became CERT and Red Cross volunteers after seeing the lack of preparedness in the Chinese community where they live. After 20 hours of training in CPR, First Aid and disaster response, Yong says she is now prepared for her self and for her community when a disaster strikes.

“California has a lot of different kinds of disasters, so we wanted to get training on how to help ourselves and our community,” Yong said. “Chinese people sometimes don’t know English, and that’s why we wanted training so we could give training to them… That is what is important to us.”

Mike Farrar has been a CERT Volunteer for four years and even went to the east coast in October to assist in the Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. Farrar said everyone in California needs the skills that he has taken away from the conferences and training sessions.

“If you’re not prepared in your community, things are going to be chaotic and when a major disaster happens the police and the fire department are not going to be able to handle it by themselves,” Farrar said. “If you’re prepared yourself you won’t have to rely on (first responders), they can help someone else who needs it.”

Officials say it is not a matter of if but a matter of when a disaster will occur in the state of California, and because of this organizations like CERT are widely beneficial.

Karen Baker, Secretary of Service and Volunteering for the state of California, and a conference organizer, said the state has a quarter of a million CERT trained volunteers, a number she hopes to see increase dramatically in the coming years.

“We should have 10 percent of California trained in CERT,” Baker told attendees. “You’re seeing a significant uptick in national and international disasters, and we have to be able to recognize is that government can’t do it alone. You have to have an active and engaged citizenry of volunteers. I would argue that it’s not just a nice add-on but a critical infrastructure. “