P.J. Mayher is one of the trainees of Bedford's Community Emergency Response Team.
A Bedford volunteer residents group is preparing for disaster, whether it be flood, fire, tornado or terrorism.
Since January, 64 volunteers have learned to give first aid, extinguish fires, help victims emotionally and conduct search-and-rescue missions.
More than 50 of them have joined Bedford's Community Emergency Response Team, a volunteer group. Their ranks include high school students, retirees, nurses, FBI agents and bankers, said Melanie Curl, president of Bedford Citizen Corps, which oversees CERT.
If the need arises, teams will assist firefighters, police and others who respond to emergencies, she said.
"Bedford is still in the toddler stage. But we hope to have a couple hundred trained people by the end of 2005," Curl said.
North Richland Hills, Keller and Southlake offer similar free training. Courses run 20 or more hours.
President Bush pushed for emergency preparedness programs nationwide after the 9-11 terrorist attacks, said officials with the North Central Texas Council of Governments.
By the end of 2006, the Federal Emergency Management Agency hopes to double the number of trained residents nationwide to 400,000, council officials said.
In March 2002, the Bedford City Council appointed a task force to study the city's emergency preparedness. Task force members were concerned about what they learned, Curl said.
"What we saw was that there were maybe about 15 firefighters and paramedics and about 45 police officers on duty at a time to serve the needs of 48,000 residents," Curl said. "And that's not including people who work here or are just cruising through."
The city obtained a $23,000 federal grant to bolster emergency readiness, she said.
Since 9-11, grants totaling $344,000 have been awarded to 13 cities in the 16-county region of the North Central Texas Council of Governments.
The money has gone toward fire extinguishers, flashlights, first-aid kits and other training equipment, said Phillip Mongeau, an emergency preparedness specialist with the council.
Bedford's trainees have been "tremendous -- their eagerness to learn, their motivation," said Battalion Chief James Richardson of the Bedford Fire Department, who teaches some of the classes. "They do a lot of work, and they learn a lot."
After the final class, trainees respond to a simulated disaster, he said.
High school senior P.J. Mayher, 18, of Bedford said he completed the classes because "I like to be prepared for anything."
"I love this because it's a way to help no matter what the situation," he said.
