Shortly before noon on July 11, 2009, a landslide associated with an irrigation canal breach moved rapidly down a steep hillside on Canyon Road in Logan, Utah. Three people were killed when their home was completely demolished; 16 other homes were damaged. The Hidden Village Neighborhood CERT was activated to respond to the crisis. A wife of a CERT member spotted the landslide and within 23 minutes six CERT members had arrived on the scene and immediately set up a command post and radio communications center. The team took on most of the CERT Incident Command (IC) positions, developed teams and shifts, and put in more than 232 hours during the 5-day incident. "Sixteen of our Hidden Village CERT [members] engaged and responded," said Sue Shaw, Hidden Village Emergency Preparedness Leader. Shaw served as a recorder on the first day of the incident, working with Incident Commander John Ellsworth. They began by orienting volunteers – 300 in the first shift – and assigning them to cleanup sites. Noting their efforts, EMS Coordinator and Assistant Fire Chief Will Lusk then tasked the CERT to oversee the organization and supervision of hundreds of additional volunteers, which on Sunday totaled 784. The volunteers were responsible for cleanup on the affected streets in preparation for city cleaning crews to begin their work. |
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