In the Fall of 2004, OEM Coordinator Jay Ludwig and Deputy OEM Coordinator, Police Chief Gregory Kallenberg attended a Chamber of Commerce meeting and asked for volunteers for a new endeavor called CERT. Stanley Kober volunteered and went to the “Train-The-Trainer” course, learned about CERT, and under the guidance of the Borough OEM Coordinators Ludwig and Chief Kallenberg, established a format for the Borough of Ho-Ho-Kus CERT program.
In January 2005, a town-wide presentation was made on CERT and the Borough’s CERT unit was born. Basic classes have been conducted in the Borough and at the Bergen County Law and Public Safety Institute (BCLPSI) in Mahwah and numerous in-service and advance classes on electrical wire safety, hazardous materials, shelter operations and management, CPR, and others also have been conducted.
The team now comprises of 53 members who have been used in evacuation drills, numerous town events, baby car seat checks, as well as having been trained through numerous CERT classes and drills in the Borough, at BCLPSI, and with other local municipalities.
Members have participated in CERT exercises at Picatinny Arsenal in Sussex County, CERT Day events at BCLPSI, decontamination drills at a local hospital, local emergency shelter operations, and many other activities. Most recently, Ho-Ho-Kus CERT hosted a joint two day exercise with Mahwah CERT which covered day time and night time operations, in which the CERT personnel used all their skills learned in many classes in “on-the-ground” events in woodlands and marshlands. In addition, the operations were conducted using Incident Command System (ICS) structure and comprised of numerous interagency operations with organizations such as the Ho-Ho-Kus Police Department and Fire Department, Ho-Ho-Kus OEM, Ho-Ho-Kus Ambulance Corps, Bergen County OEM, Mahwah OEM and others.