I have sources across the country in Emergency Management, etc., up to State level, who indicate that trained, affiliated volunteer organizations such as SAR and CERT - with background checks, ID, NIMS compliant, etc. - are being activated and deployed. The key is apparently an appropriate affiliation with a recognized authority / agency to have call-out status. Across the country this affiliation is commonly with LE or Fire, sometimes through local Emergency Management.
In CA all authorized SAR is affiliated with the County Sheriff, and our SAR mutual aid is coordinated at the State OES level, LE Branch. CA CERT programs with deployable personnel are normally managed by Fire or LE, and commonly are organized with volunteer management structure. It isn't unusual to see CA volunteer CERT uniform shirts at a state or national conference indicating Battalion Chief or some other title.
So it appears that whether CERT (and SAR) is unofficial or official depends on the operational area / state, and perhaps also how that team is affiliated.
The topic of coverage for trained, affiliated volunteers was a presentation a few weeks ago at the National Emergency Preparedness Conference. In CA all affiliated SAR and CERT are recognized under the state's Disaster Service Worker program, covered for authorized response and training. (Since part of CERT training is specific to providing aid at an incident in front of you, that is also legally considered covered in CA ... with CERT-trained personnel acting within the scope of their training.) Many states have similar Disaster Service Worker-type programs. From what Irv indicates, apparently PA does not.
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Jorene Downs
SAR & CERT
Mounted SAR
www.ceoates.com/msar <http://www.ceoates.com/msar>
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