Youth Trained in Disaster Preparedness
The City of Santa Barbara Fire Department is proud to announce the graduation of the latest class of Teen Community Emergency Response Team (Teen CERT) students. These 21 dedicated young individuals represented local high schools throughout Santa Barbara; they completed intensive, hands-on training in disaster preparedness and emergency response, becoming the newest generation of community response leaders.
The graduation ceremony took place on July 17th, 2025, at Santa Barbara City Fire Station 1, where we honored the students’ achievements and highlighted the value of youth engagement in public safety.
Teen CERT is a nationally recognized program that teaches high school students how to safely respond to emergencies before professional responders arrive. Over the course of the program, students learned essential skills such as fire safety, light search and rescue, first aid, disaster psychology, and team organization. The training culminated in a full-scale disaster simulation, allowing students to apply what they learned in a real-world scenario…