09/29/2026
Fortuna High School Students Complete Community Emergency Response Team Training During National Preparedness Month
FORTUNA, Calif. — September is National Preparedness Month, and eight Fortuna High School students are marking the occasion by completing Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training—an innovative educational opportunity made possible through the vision and leadership of longtime Fortuna High School teacher Sara Dixon.
For nearly three decades, Dixon has dedicated herself to educating and inspiring high school students, with much of her teaching career spent at Fortuna High School. She currently teaches
Biology, AP Biology, Anatomy, and Biology & Community Health. Her commitment to students, however, extends well beyond the traditional classroom.
Through her leadership of the Humboldt County Office of Education’s Health-Career Exploration Summer Institute (HESI), Dixon has consistently provided students with opportunities to explore career paths while developing practical skills and an understanding of the importance of serving their communities.
Recognizing the value of emergency preparedness and hands-on learning, Dixon approached the Fortuna Volunteer Fire Department about providing CERT training for her students. The result was an educational experience that combined online instruction with hands-on emergency response training.
Before participating in the practical exercises, each student completed the basic CERT curriculum online through the University of Utah School of Medicine. The training covered disaster preparedness, the Incident Command System, disaster medical operations, triage, basic first aid, disaster psychology, fire safety and utility controls, light search and rescue, and situational awareness and personal safety.
Following the online coursework, certified instructors from the Fortuna Volunteer Fire Department and the **Blue Lake Rancheria Office of Emergency Services **provided hands-on instruction. Students practiced the skills they had learned, giving them the opportunity to apply emergency response concepts in realistic training situations.
For the first time, Fortuna High School incorporated the CERT training opportunity into the students’ scheduled class time, demonstrating the school’s continuing commitment to innovative, career-connected education and community preparedness.
Fortuna High School has a history of leadership in this area. The school was the first high school in Humboldt County to sponsor a Teen CERT program, giving high school students the opportunity to develop emergency preparedness and response skills while still in school.
That early program has already produced lasting results. Former Fortuna High School students Corbin Martin and Jacob Richardson went on to become firefighters, while Wescott Covington continues to participate in CERT and remain involved with the local fire service.
CERT training provides students with practical skills that can help them protect themselves, their families, and their neighbors during an emergency. Just as importantly, the training helps young people develop confidence in their ability to contribute when their community needs them most.
The students participating in the current program entered the CERT training with a strong foundation, having previously completed CPR and Stop the Bleed training. Their CERT coursework builds upon those skills by introducing them to a broader range of emergency
preparedness and response responsibilities.
Upon completing the training, students are eligible to participate with a CERT program and continue developing their emergency preparedness and community service skills.
The eight Fortuna High School students completing the September 2026 CERT training will receive their certificates of completion on October 2, 2026.
They are:
Ivan Amador
Lynnea Brower
Jaylynn Jacobs
Sephora Machado
Marlen Pimentel Ramirez
Gregorio Rios
Natalie Villalores
Allison Wibbenhorst
The training was conducted by Autumn Swedin, CERT Program Outreach Coordinator; Enoch Ibarra, RN, Community Disaster Preparedness Program Manager and instructor for the Fortuna Volunteer Fire Department; Brittaney Lewis, EMT-P, Director of the Office of Emergency Services and Emergency Manager for the Blue Lake Rancheria Office of Emergency Services and CERT instructor; and Makayla Weinmann, Tribal Emergency Response Team (TERT) Coordinator.
Autumn also serves as Vice President of the Humboldt County CERT Coalition.
The Blue Lake Rancheria Office of Emergency Services, through Brittaney Lewis, generously donated emergency preparedness kits for each student to receive upon completion of the program.
The Fortuna Volunteer Fire Department recognizes the importance of programs that prepare young people not only for potential careers, but also for the responsibility of helping their families and communities during times of crisis.
Sara Dixon’s initiative, combined with the willingness of Fortuna High School, its students, and local emergency-response organizations to work together, demonstrates how education and community preparedness can come together to create meaningful opportunities for the next generation.
About CERT
The Community Emergency Response Team program provides individuals with basic disaster preparedness and response skills, including disaster medical operations, fire safety, light search
and rescue, disaster psychology, and emergency organization. The program emphasizes personal safety while teaching participants how they can assist themselves, their families, and
their communities following a disaster.
