Interest had been rising in Atchison County on sponsoring a supplementary team of volunteers to aid first responders during a crisis. And then a bomb went off.
In the immediate wake of the 8th Street explosion early in the morning on July 6, and with high awareness of previous, more destructive incidents like the 2011 grain elevator disaster, a new Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) is being organized.
Lydia Theurer, an Atchison County EMS paramedic, serves as the CERT program director in addition to various other roles. On Thursday Theurer didn’t shy away from telling a classroom full of first responders and prospective volunteers about how the July 6 incident frayed some nerves, though it caused no casualties. “CERT teaches some valuable information about disaster preparation, community response, even preparation for terrorism,” she said. “You might think we don’t need that, but 8th street in Atchison teaches us otherwise.”
Director of Emergency Management Wes Lanter, himself a volunteer firefighter for the Atchison County Rural Fire District No. 2 (Effingham), said CERT volunteers are by design people common citizens who want to make a difference.
(Read more: Atchison Globe Now)