WHO: Personnel from the Morgantown Fire Department, Monongalia County EMS , local chapter of the American Red Cross, West Virginia University Environmental Health and Safety, WVU Police Department and several other WVU employees.

WHAT: CERT (Campus Emergency Response Team) Program training. The training exercises will include search, rescue, fire suppression, triage and first aid.

WHEN: Wednesday, Aug. 12 from 1-5 p.m.

WHERE: The top floor and south parking lot of the old St. Francis School building, located on Patteson Drive near Evansdale Campus.

BACKGROUND: As part of the WVU Emergency Response Plan, the WVU Police Department, with sponsorship by MECCA , is establishing a CERT Program for the University, in cooperation with WVU Environmental Health and Safety, the Morgantown Fire Department and Monongalia County EMS .

The program, supported by FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security, educates volunteers from the community in disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization and disaster medical operations.

Once training is complete, WVU will have the first trained CERT in the county. For more information, visit the national CERT Web site at http://citizencorps.gov/cert .