Emergency responders prepared for the worst

OREM — Janet and Lavar Butler spent six weeks learning how to fight fires, prepare for earthquakes and perform emergency triage.

No, the Butlers are not paramedics preparing for a breaking emergency. They are concerned citizens preparing for the future.

"We've always been interested in safety because we feel like we live in an area that is vulnerable," said Janet Butler, 68. "We just kind of think that way — we think about civil defense."

The couple signed up for the Orem Community Emergency Responders Team course last spring and said their participation has been crucial in helping them get ready for whatever may come.

"Preparation is everything," Janet Butler said. "Knowledge is part of that preparation. If the word doesn't get, out we're going to have a major problem on our hands."

In the FEMA-sponsored six-week program — two hours each week — students learn about fire suppression, disaster preparedness, emergency triage, disaster psychology, team organization and dealing with terroristic threats.

The classes are put on by the city emergency manager and Orem public safety officers.

Orem started the class 10 years ago — but interest waned until about three years ago, when the class started to fill up again. Now they have about 30 students each time.

With the recent natural disasters of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, interest in getting prepared has increased. And even though Utah won't face a hurricane, earthquakes are a major concern in the state.

Orem officials usually try to sign up neighborhoods as units so they can create pockets of prepared responders for a crisis. However, city workers say they'll accept any resident who wants to prepare.

"I think that with the increased concerns in regards to emergency preparedness people are signing up on their own," said Reed Price, emergency-management coordinator for Orem. "We're getting many different people from all over the neighborhoods."

Orem isn't alone in its emergency preparedness certification. Provo has also offered classes since the early '90s.

"Our community is just built on that self-preparedness," said Provo Police Lt. Scott Finch, an emergency management co-coordinator for Provo city. "People in our community, as a whole, have a desire to be prepared."