Despite the number of people we get each week there are still emergency responders that don't know about the Center or the service it provides. The CDP is funded through DHS grants and trains responders for CBRNE WMD incidents. There are courses tailored for Hazmat, Fire, EMS, and LE. The website is CDP.DHS.GOV and has the schedule and course descriptions as well as application procedures and contacts. We also offer the courses (free of charge) in your jurisdiction. If your interested please feel free to message with questions! Stay safe!
I recently went through the admin of my state disaster team to ask to be allowed to attend CDP courses using my team ID/credentials and was denied. Their reasoning was that they will be sending WMD member of our team to the training as a group and not individuals. What are the requirements to attend? I am going through firefighter training right now, am an IL EMT-B and feel that I could benefit greatly from the training. I am not currently attached to any other agency other than my status as a candidate firefighter the academy (besides the IL response team). Simply put, what types of credentials are acceptable for attendance at the CDP. While I understand the disaster teams rational (sort of ) I feel that having uptrained individuals is always of benefit to the entire team. As my fire department gets more and more involved in MABAS, I would like to have all the all-hazard training I can get and am also working on my Masters in Disaster and Emergency Management. Thanks and I will await your reply.
My apologies for not responding sooner....I'm still kind of new to the site and didn't realize until today that you had replied. I'm not sure how Illinois Emergency Mgmt works but if you go to the CDP.DHS.GOV website there is a point of contact name and number listed for your state. Ask about the states procedures (here we must be signed off by the chief of the dept, then send it through the state EMA who in turn sends it to the CDP some states send it directly in from the dept). If you are affiliated with a fire department or EMS unit and can get a supervisor to sign off, you qualify. If you have additional questions send them to qtpie114@gmail.com.
Be safe,
Sara