Community Emergency Response Team program begins Sept 4 in Belton

By David Stone

August 14, 2025

The Belton Journal

Tornadoes, floods, wildfires and other disasters can strike at any time, and when they do, anyone could be the first person to make a difference. The people who make that difference aren’t always first responders. Sometimes, they’re just regular community members who chose to be prepared.

“That’s what the Community Emergency Response Team program is all about — empowering everyday people in our community to respond when it matters most,” said Angie Fontenot, a CERT instructor and wife of Belton Fire Chief Jon Fontenot.

The Belton and Temple CERT programs are offering an 8-week training course this fall on disaster preparedness, basic first aid, search and rescue, and fire safety. Classes will be held on Thursdays from 6 to 9 p.m. at Harris Community Center in Belton, starting Sept. 4 with a final drill on Oct. 25.

“We learn a lot about fire safety and fire suppression, first aid and triage — there are a lot of ‘injured’ people in our drills,” Angie Fontenot said.

“We also do search and rescue training both indoors and outdoors,” she added. “We also learn a lot about mental health, terrorism and the power of working as a team. There’s lots of hands-on training.”

She said the final day of the course will be a full-scale emergency management exercise.

Angie has been a CERT instructor since 2014, and she and her husband built a strong program in Tomball, Texas, before moving to Belton.

“The chief had a robust program in Tomball and he wanted to bring a strong CERT program to Belton as well,” she said. “Belton CERT was launched in 2022 and we’ve had 25 to 30 participants each year. We haven’t had many sign up yet this year, but people tend to register at the last minute.”

Angie said those who complete the Belton, Temple CERT program will receive a certificate of completion as well as an emergency backpack loaded with gloves, a flashlight and batteries, a first-aid kit and other starter equipment.

“Many people take the course to be a community asset,” she said. “We teach skills and knowledge that can be used in every-day life. When disaster strikes, we will have a pool of trained community members to assist in search and rescues.”

“We had a lot of CERT members out following the two May 22, 2024, tornadoes,” she added. “We teach skills that can be used as a team or individually. This course gets training out there for our community.”

To register for the free CERT course, email Angie Fontenot at beltoncert@gmail.com. To take the course, a participant must be 18 years old or 14 if a parent also attends training.

“Those are the only requirements,” she said. “The CERT program is open to anyone interested in learning how to be better prepared for emergencies.”