What it Means to be Part of a NEIGHBORHOOD EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM

While most Richmond District residents will be panicked and confused during the next big earthquake, 300 neighborhood individuals will be prepared to guide themselves and their neighbors to safety. They are the members of N.E.R.T., the San Francisco Fire Department's Neighborhood Emergency Response Team.

The SFFD founded NERT in 1990 when citizens expressed the desire to be better informed about how to survive a natural disaster after the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. The program trains neighborhood residents to be self-sufficient for 72 hours after a major disaster, when city emergency services will be spread thin in dealing with an overwhelming number of situations requiring immediate attention. That is also the expected time it will take for the National Guard and American Red Cross to open shelters for those whose homes are no longer safe.

To date, 300 people in the Richmond District - out of a citywide total of 10,000 people - have taken the program, which is taught by San Francisco firefighters. The courses have no age requirements and are offered in a variety of languages at various locations throughout the City. If one is not offered in a particular area, a group of residents can get together, find a local facility such as a community center or a business office and contact the SFFD to arrange for NERT classes to be scheduled there. The program consists of six free classes focused on teaching basic skills and disaster medicine that will be helpful before, during and after an earthquake.

When disaster strikes, the graduates of NERT (easily visible in their yellow helmets and orange vests) will not be acting alone, however.

"The NERTs are trained as leaders to direct others," said David Hirtz, the program's Outer Richmond District coordinator. "They will take emergent, untrained volunteers and put them to work."

The NERT emergency plan, which is practiced in drills twice a year, calls for Richmond District NERT teams to assemble at the George Washington High School tennis courts just off Geary Boulevard between 30th and 32nd avenues and at Mountain Lake Park at Ninth Avenue and Lake Street. From these neighborhood staging areas (of the 46 in the City) the NERTs will work in conjunction with the Mayor's Office of Emergency Services to communicate directions to fellow residents, dispatch volunteers and distribute supplies.

The fire station at 441 12th Ave. has been designated as the Emergency Response District Fire Station as well. It is expected to operate as a mini command post and a point of contact where neighbors can report emergencies.

NERTs will also maintain contact and carry out instructions from the Emergency Command Center on Turk Street, where the mayor and representatives from city departments, utility companies and other agencies will gather, assess the effects of the earthquake and decide what to do.

Meanwhile, other NERTs will aid Richmond District citizens considered at risk and who need additional assistance in the event of an earthquake. NERTs will obtain lists with names and addresses of these individuals from sealed containers at the Emergency Response District Fire Station and check on them. This registry includes all people who put themselves on the list, such as individuals with service dogs, people undergoing home chemotherapy and the elderly. Individuals who want to register themselves, family members or friends on the list can do so by contacting the SF Department of Public Health.

"The goal of the NERT program is to do the most good for the most people," Hirtz said. "People will be prepared to take care of themselves, their families, their neighbors and their communities, in that order."

NERT teams will go out and perform damage assessments and light search and rescue operations equipped with safety equipment and rescue tools. Yet they must know their physical and mental limitations and work within their individual means and knowledge.

"NERTs have to pick situations where the odds of a successful outcome are highest," Hirtz said. "It's very important that in trying to help others, you don't become a victim yourself. You're no good to anyone if you get injured or die."

Another crucial component of the NERT program is its cooperation with the American Red Cross.

"Many people in NERT are cross trained with the Red Cross and vice versa, so when NERTs make preliminary damage and casualty assessments, that information is shared with the Red Cross," Hirtz said. "That all feeds into working together and making the City emergency plan work."

According to Hirtz, the more community volunteers there are, the more prepared the City will be when the "big one" strikes. At least 50,000 additional volunteers are needed in the Richmond District alone in the event of a major disaster.