The Borough of Kinnelon honored new members of its Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) at its Thursday night meeting with each new member receiving a Certificate of Achievement and a bag full of supplies that may be used in an emergency.
The CERT team added eight new members, all residents of Kinnelon: Jim Collins, Tracy Collins, Frank Marceca, Anthony Mondello, Chris Mondello, Linda Thorpe, Bill Yago and Billy Yago. The new members will join current members Adam Barish, Jane Johnson, John Hurwitz, Jessica Barish, Dick Unger and Dee Unger.
Adam Barish, who serves as the Assistant Chief of the Kinnelon Volunteer Fire Co., had nothing but kind words for the new CERT members, who are now trained in such aspects of emergency management as disaster psychology, first aid, CPR, basic fire prevention and terrorism awareness.
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“We’ve had these fine members and we’ve spent nine separate weeks going through these classes,” Barish said. “I thank you for your time and I think we’re going to make a difference in our community.”
Mayor Bob Collins echoed that sentiment and, in a time following Hurricane Irene and October’s Nor’easter that has brought about increased awareness to emergency management, was very appreciative of the new members’ willingness to serve.
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“Up until last year, we had kind of taken emergency services for granted,” Collins said. “During Irene, seeing how important it was to support other emergency services, I came to realize how fortunate we are to have people willing to step forward, put time into training and when they have to step in to demonstrate what they’ve learned, they do so in a professional manner."
