Island County offers CERT basic course in Oak Harbor this August

Island County will host a Community Emergency Response Team basic course in Oak Harbor from Aug. 21 through Aug. 23 at 855 E. Whidbey Ave., giving residents hands-on training for the kind of disruption that can cut off normal help fast.

The county says CERT teaches volunteers disaster preparedness for hazards that may affect their area and basic response skills including fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization and disaster medical operations. Island County describes CERT as a consistent, nationwide program, built to give ordinary residents a way to help until professional responders arrive.

That matters on Whidbey Island, where a storm, earthquake, smoke event, ferry disruption or road closure can leave neighborhoods functioning on their own for critical stretches of time. In those first hours, a trained neighbor can help organize a block, check on vulnerable households, and keep small problems from becoming larger ones before fire, EMS or public works crews can reach every location.

The Oak Harbor class is listed on the Island County Department of Emergency Management calendar, and its location at 855 E. Whidbey Ave. places the training squarely on North Whidbey. The skills are useful well beyond Oak Harbor, reaching communities across the county from Coupeville and Freeland to Langley and more rural parts of Whidbey Island.

The class also arrives after a change in the county’s broader preparedness outreach. Island County Ready Neighbors was discontinued as of Jan. 6, 2026, although its materials remain available for download and no printed materials are available. That leaves county-led training like CERT as one of the clearest ways for residents to build practical disaster skills in person.

Oak Harbor will add another preparedness opportunity later in the season. The city’s 2026 Emergency Preparedness Fair is scheduled for Sept. 26 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Oak Harbor Fire Department Station 81, 855 E. Whidbey Avenue, and the city lists it as a free community event.

For Island County households trying to prepare for the first 72 hours of an emergency, the Oak Harbor CERT course is one of the most direct ways to turn concern into usable skills.