The members of Lamorinda DART (Disaster Animal Response Team) are highly motivated and highly trained. They have acquired their skills during more than 40 hours of classroom training and some have spent even more hours of field work. The quality of their training is monitored and guaranteed by the DART Training Institute: usDART, which issues the DART certificates and IDs.

We distinguish two levels of DART members: a Basic Level and an Advanced Level.

The Basic Level DART Member will have completed the following training:

OPTIONAL: Community Emergency Response Team - 20 Hours of Training / 2.0 CEU's

Many of our memebrs are graduates from a local CERT program. This is a 20-hour training in disaster response, sponsored and overseen by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In the CERT training participants acquire the skills needed to deal with small fires, rescue people and animals who are trapped by debris, search buildings in a methodical, professional way and apply basic first aid.

CERT training ends with a drill during which the participants have to demonstrate that they know how to apply what they have leanred in class. In California, upon graduation they are sworn in as Disaster Service Worker Volunteers which makes them available as resources to local emergency managers.

Until recently, CERT was a requirementfor DART membership. Unfortunately, we have found that CERT, in particular in Contra Costa, does not meet professional standards. CERT instruction is based on an outdated curriculum and taught by instructors who themselves rarely are subject matter experts. In many cases, the CERT organization is amorphous and can not be relied upon in a disaster. Of course there are exceptions, such as Sacramento CERT, which seems to have found a model that prepares their battalions and strike teams for action.

RECOMMENDED: FEMA Certifications - Approximately 9 Hours of Training / 0.9 CEU's

So, CERT graduates and anyone else who wishes to join DART have a lot more training to do. They have to have the following certifications from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

• ICS 100 Introduction to the Incident Command System (3 hour training / 0.3 CEU's)
  
• ICS 200 ICS for Single Resources and Initial Action Incidents (3 hour training / 0.3 CEU's)
  
• ICS 700 NIMS An Introduction (3 hour training / 0.3 CEU's)

REQUIRED: DART Animal Sheltering Training - Approximately 20 Hours of Training / 2.0 CEU's

This Basic Level DART Crtification requires 49 hours of training (equivalent to  4.9 Continuing Education Units). Upon completion participants who have a valid Tetanus vaccinbation and are able to pass a background check will be issued a DART ID Badge and become eligible for deployment through DART. Graduates have the knowledge to function in supervisory positions in emergency animal shelters.