The Greenbelt Volunteer Fire Department (GVFD, represented by Chief Thomas Ray), the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and Community Animal Response Team (CART), both represented by Laura Kressler, met with the Greenbelt City Council on Monday, May 2 to present their needs for the Fiscal Year 23 city budget.
Ray reported that the Greenbelt Fire Station is awaiting an additional HVAC unit to be installed sometime this month by the county, alongside one already put in. Other station needs include repair work to the mortar exterior and attention to the pavement outside where pools of
water present a safety hazard.
A Pierce fire engine was purchased in 2020, in conjunction with another from 2014. Ray explained that engines have a 15-year life span, making 2029 the year that the older engine will need to be replaced.
Both a utility truck from 2005 and the chief’s buggy from 2008 are high in mileage, with the former likely to be replaced this year or the beginning of next year.
Ray said that relations with the county are “fine at the station level,” with an atmosphere prevailing of “accomplishing one goal” and “working together.”
Those wishing to become volunteers are encouraged to either stop by the station or refer to the website engine35.com, scrolling down to “Recruitment.”
CERT
CERT, which has 18 current members, 65 percent of whom are city residents, is asking for $1,500, their usual yearly request. The breakdown of costs consists of: $500 for a lost person’s behavior training course, $900 for the renovation of the interior of the CERT trailer to better store equipment and $100 for a CERT mobile app that uses GPS to monitor things like building damage in the case of an emergency.
CERT has had a busy year of diverse training, such as Stop the Bleed, which teaches how to save a life from a knife or gunshot wound; Narcan training; skywarn weather spotter course; and a variety of trainings offered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Some of CERT’s team goals are: a tabletop exercise with the county’s CERT teams, an extreme event game exercise for both CERT and CART, and possible collaborations with the Greenbelt Police Department and GVFD.
The county has recently done background checks and issued IDs to its CERT participants. Greenbelt CERT will assess this effort and then decide whether to provide IDs to city CERT members as well.
CART
CART has 19 active members, 13 of whom are residents. This past year CART had many Covid-related events with CERT, such as food distributions and working at the county’s Office of Emergency Management Emergency Operations call center.
A major training was with Your Dog’s Friend Foundation, which offered workshops on subjects like body language of dogs, post-traumatic stress disorder in dogs and pet emergencies. CART was involved in many of the same trainings at CERT, such as Stop the Bleed, as well as several FEMA trainings focused on animals in disaster situations.
CART’s primary proposed purchase is for a laptop computer with software to manage several areas, such as: all pet admissions to a temporary shelter, all volunteer hours and required personnel information and all required shelter documents.
CART is asking for $1,500 as well. Regarding the laptop, the price was left out, as CART will be in discussions with the city’s IT Department on possible avenues to acquire it, either as a used city machine or through government channels.
Kressler explained that due to a misunderstanding concerning budgetary protocol, last year’s funds for both CERT and CART were not able to be used and thus were returned to the city, with all of last year’s proposed purchases being moved to the coming year.
The CART trailer is expected soon, and is being outfitted with logos of groups that CART has been sponsored by, like The American Kennel Club and the Hyattsville Dog Training Club.
At the conclusion of her presentation, Kressler said that CERT and CART are trained for dealing with many contingencies in the event of a disaster in the city, including setting up evacuation spots, such as at the Community Center, creating temporary animal shelters and turning off gas mains and water lines.