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Emergency Preparedness Citizen’s Academy

Are you prepared for an emergency or disaster? Join us for our Emergency Preparedness Citizen’s Academy!

What is the Citizen’s Academy?

Dark stormy sky with lightning, text "Emergency Preparedness Citizen's Academy," and a sign saying "ARE YOU READY?"

The Citizen Academy aims to empower you to prepare for natural and manmade emergencies and disasters. Our goal is to help build a resilient community by educating on disaster readiness, emergency response techniques, and community support methods. So our focus on this academy is on emergency preparedness mixed with valuable life safety skills training. 

The class sessions will focus on critical areas such as basic survival skills and disaster preparedness, weather spotting, emergency preparedness during power outages, fire mitigation, fire extinguishment, rescue techniques, CPR/AED, advanced first aid, and building a disaster kit. Participants will gain the knowledge and skills necessary to assist themselves, their families, and neighbors. 

Structure

The Academy is broken into two parts and classes run March through July.

The community classes will be taught by subject matter experts in the topic for the evening. Classes will be held on a weeknight for 90 minutes to 2 hours depending upon the subject. Instructors include an Emergency Manager from Weld County OEM, PGFPD Wildland Firefighter and Fire Mitigation Specialist, Meteorologist from NOAA, and representatives from Xcel Energy.  We will have an inperson and live stream virtual option for your attendance convienece.  See Part 1 for more details.

The "hands on" portion is the main Citizen's Academy where we will teach you skills that you can use in an emergency or disaster to help sustain and safe a life. We encourage that if you sign up for this portion, to attend all classes to complete the "Academy."  See Part 2 for more details.

 

Citizens Academy Schedule includes topics like resilience, weather spotting, CPR/AED, fire techniques, and preparedness from March to July.

Part 1: Community classes are open to all residents and can be live streamed upon registration if you cannot attend in person. You can take one or all of these classes. These classes run March through June

 

Part 2: Hands on Academy portion. These classes are a mix of week nights and weekends in May, June, and July. Classes range from 2 hours to 5 hours (Saturday). Registration is required and a max of 20 participants. Those that attend will receive a free Academy T-shirt, safety PPE, and a disaster preparedness kit. We ask that when you sign up for Part 2, that you attend all four sessions. A certificate of completion will be given at the end once all classes have been attended. Must be at least 12 years old and physically capable of performing CPR compressions and holding a fire extinguisher. Registration for these sessions of the Academy will open at the start of March.

  • CPR/AED (includes a 2 year AHA certification) (click here to sign up)
  • Advanced First Aid and Medical Skills (Includes a 2 Year AHA certification) 
  • Fire Extinguishment, Rescue Techniques, and Utility Control
  • Building a Disaster Preparedness Kit and Family Plan

 

Why take the classes?

During a large emergency or disaster, fire and EMS resources may be unavailable or delayed. In addition, we know that Federal assistance will be delayed and by having the training, knowledge, and supplies ready to go you will be more sustainable and able to help not only yourself, but your family and/or neighbors too if needed. We want you to have the tools and resources to be aware and resilient in the case of an emergency or disaster. 

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