News - Center for Domestic Preparedness

Responder-students transport a ‘patient’ during the 2018 Tribal Nations Training Week.

Registration continues for 2019 Tribal Nations Training Week at CDP

Registration is continuing for the Center for Domestic Preparedness’ 4th Annual Tribal Nations Training Week from March 16-23, 2019.

The expansion of the CDP’s primary kitchen will double the number of students the center is able to feed.

CDP Kitchen Expansion slated for completion in March

The CDP will soon have the capacity to feed as many as 1,000 students three meals a day.

CDP student-responders are being introduced to the FEMA App, which is available at the following site: https://www.fema.gov/mobile-app.

CDP promotes FEMA App

The Center for Domestic Preparedness has added an additional item to the ‘toolkits’ of the more than 50,000 responders it trains every year – the FEMA App.

CDP Instructor Jeremy Urekew, center, points out damages on a training barrel to students attending the Hazardous Materials Technician course, noting that punctures in barrels can lead to emissions of both liquid and gaseous hazardous material.

CDP hosts Hazardous Materials-themed Training Week

Healthcare, law enforcement and hazardous materials students enhanced their skills and preparedness recently during a Hazardous Materials-themed Training Week at the Center for Domestic Preparedness.

CDP to host 2019 National Preparedness Symposium

The CDP will host the 2019 National Preparedness Symposium in May on its campus in Anniston, Al.

CDP Releases October Training Numbers

The CDP has released its training numbers for the month of October.

CDP Staffer Kasey Luallen registers Hurricane Michael survivors for FEMA assistance in south Georgia.

CDP staffers helping with hurricane relief efforts

Nearly 20 CDP staffers are continuing to support hurricane relief efforts across the Southeast.

Police officers sitting at computers taking online training

The CDP, in partnership with DHS’ Office for Bombing Prevention, now offers online learning courses

The CDP, in partnership with DHS’ Office for Bombing Prevention, is now offering four awareness-level online learning courses for first responders.

The CDP’s Expeditionary Training initiative is aimed at providing just-in-time training to responders, particularly those immediately facing or recovering from disasters, at their home stations.

CDP launches Expeditionary Training capability

The Center for Domestic Preparedness is now able to provide expeditionary training to responders, particularly those immediately facing or recovering from disasters.

(L-R) Dr. Arslan Kagan Arslan, Director General of Turkey’s Emergency Health Services, discusses training options with CDP Superintendent Tony Russell.

CDP trains Turkish responders

The ranks of Center for Domestic Preparedness alumni now include five healthcare professionals from Turkey.

Responders participate in an online course.

CDP set to launch first online courses

The Center for Domestic Preparedness will launch its first online courses November 2.

More than 160 responders participated in the CDP’s Train-the-Trainer Theme Week.

Theme week helps CDP boost its cadre of instructors, extend reach

The Center for Domestic Preparedness’ cadre of instructors just got sizably larger.

The CDP is featured in the October issue of Business Alabama magazine.

CDP featured in Business Alabama magazine

The Center for Domestic Preparedness is prominently featured in the October 2018 edition of Business Alabama magazine.

CDP Releases September Training Numbers

The CDP has released its training numbers for the month of September.

CDP supporting Birmingham and World Games 2021

The Center for Domestic Preparedness is assisting the City of Birmingham as it prepares to host the World Games in 2021.

CDP Releases August Training Numbers

The CDP has released its training numbers for the month of August.

Responder-Students don protective gear to treat ‘patients’ suspected of having the Ebola virus.

Students learn how to treat patients with highly infectious diseases during themed training week

Ebola was the focus of the CDP’s Highly Infectious Disease Theme Week Aug. 27-31, and for the 81 students enrolled in the Healthcare Leadership (HCL) and Barrier Precautions for Highly Infectious Diseases (HID) courses.

An aerial view of Calhoun County at dusk.

CDP unveils ‘Backyard Ambassador’ initiative

The Center for Domestic Preparedness is hoping to make Calhoun County, AL – the county in which the FEMA training institution is located – one of the ’most prepared’ counties in the nation.

National Disaster Medical Service (NDMS) personnel set up shop in the rear of the CDP’s Advanced Responder Training Complex.

National Disaster Medical Service trains at CDP

The HHS National Disaster Medical Service (NDMS) trained at the CDP in late August.

A team of students decontaminates a ‘patient’ in the CDP’s Technical Emergency Response Training for CBRNE Incidents, or TERT, course.

COURSE SPOTLIGHT: Technical Emergency Response Training for CBRNE Incidents (TERT)

Technical Emergency Response Training for CBRNE Incidents (TERT) is a four-day course that provides responders with chemical-, biological-, radiological-, nuclear- and explosive- (CBRNE-) speciﬁc and all-hazards response skills enabling them to respond safely to events with those materials.

Center challenges Coast Guard Hazardous Material Technicians

More than 100 Coast Guardsmen trained at the CDP in 2017, and 110 are scheduled to be trained in 2018.

CDP Releases July Training Numbers

The CDP has released its training numbers for the month of July.

Paramedic Kendra Cobb checks the vitals of responder at the COBRA Training Facility. Responder-Students’ vitals are checked both before and after they enter ‘hot’ bays at the facility.

CDP braves another ‘September to Remember’

It’s been another busy month for the CDP. While some of the Center’s attention was drawn toward disaster support (‘We’re FEMA — This is what we do’), it pressed forward with its unique, traditional mission of training state, local and tribal and territorial responders how to deal with a wide range of hazardous incidents.

Students practice putting on and removing personal protective equipment in the Barrier Precautions and Controls for Highly Infectious Disease (HID) course.

CDP to host ‘Highly Infectious Disease’-themed training week

The Center for Domestic Preparedness will host a Highly Infectious Disease-themed Training Week August 27-31 on its campus in Anniston, Ala.

A montage featuring first responders of all disciplines

CDP releases training #’s for first half of 2018

The CDP has released its training numbers for the first half of 2018.

Trainers wearing one of the new chemical suits being tested at the COBRATF.

COBRATF Testing New Chemical Protection Suits

The Chemical, Ordnance, Biological and Radiological Training Facility is always looking for ways to improve training while keeping students safe.

Students take part in one of the LERA Course’s practical exercises.

SPOTLIGHT: LERA Course

Law Enforcement Response Actions for CBRNE Incidents (LERA) is a one-day training course during which law enforcement and security personnel apply the knowledge and skills they learn during a companion course, Law Enforcement Protective Measures for CBRNE Incidents.

Disaster Medical Assistance Team members in training at the CDP.

CDP supports training of national medical teams

The CDP has been helping improve the nation’s disaster medical response capability by hosting several training courses this summer for members of the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS).

FEMA Disaster Recovery Center workers huddle on the center’s opening day in Jacksonville, Ala. The DRC was overseen by FEMA’s Joint Field Office for the disaster, which was supported by the CDP.

CDP support to JFO saves FEMA more than $250K

The CDP’s support of a local Joint Field Office will save FEMA more than a quarter of a million dollars by the time the JFO closes.

U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL), left, enjoys a lighter moment with members of the CDP team, including (l-r) Malanie English, Charles Reneau, Pete Zekoff and CDP Superintendent Tony Russell. Jones toured the CDP June 29 and got the chance to see healthcare students taking part in a mass casualty and

U.S. Sen. Jones Visits CDP

U.S. Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL) got an in-depth look at the CDP during a visit June 29.

CDP Turns 20

The CDP hosted a celebration June 14 to mark the center’s 20th anniversary, and FEMA officials, local elected officials and former CDP superintendents were among those in attendance at the small but stylish event.

Healthcare professionals learn how to decontaminate patients during CDP training classes conducted in Puerto Rico.

CDP conducts Emergency Response Training in Puerto Rico

The CDP teamed up with the Government of Puerto Rico May 29-June 1 to train nearly 100 of the territory’s emergency and healthcare workers to respond to mass casualty incidents.

Instructor-in-training Winslow Harrison (right), an emergency medical technician, applies a tourniquet to the arm of a fellow student during the Instructor Training Course.

SPOTLIGHT: Instructor Training Course (ITC)

The instructor stands in front of the class, introduces himself, and then opens the class with a video. The video is the all-too-familiar police “bodycam” footage we have all seen before...

A map of the Caribbean Sea with Puerto Rico highlighted.

CDP set to train healthcare workers in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico will be the site of two CDP classes and an associated health care mass casualty exercise May 29 - June 1.

Jim McDonnell, Assistant Secretary of the DHS Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD) Office, discusses some of the capabilities of select chemical detection equipment to fellow visitor Christian Lee, from the Senate Appropriations Committee staff, at the COBRA Training Facility.

DHS Official, Senate Staffers Visit CDP

The head of the Department of Homeland Security’s newest office got an inside look at how the nation’s first responders train to combat weapons of mass destruction during a visit to the Center for Domestic Preparedness.

Students train on mass casualty response and recovery operations at the CDP’s Advanced Responder Training Complex during Hurricane Theme Week.

Mass Casualty Exercise Caps Hurricane Theme Week

The Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) hosted its 2018 Hurricane Theme Week April 30 through May 5.

IACET Renews its Accreditation of CDP Courses

Training at the CDP continues to provide an added bonus to responder-students: Continuing Education Units or CEUs for successful completion of any CDP course.

The CDP is training about 175 coastal community-based responders this week how to prepare for, respond to and recover from the effects of hurricanes.

CDP begins week of Hurricane-themed training

The Center for Domestic Preparedness is hosting its 2018 Hurricane Theme Week now through May 5 at its campus in Anniston.

A group of law enforcement officers take up positions against an active shooter during the Integrated Capstone Event conducted as part of the CDP's Complex Coordinated Attack Theme Week. The week brought together law enforcement, hazardous materials, healthcare and emergency management specialists a

CDP conducts Complex Coordinated Attacks Theme Week

The CDP conducted a Complex Coordinated Attacks Theme Week the last week of March.

A team assesses the status of an arriving patient during a mass casualty exercise. The students were among the more than 175 representatives from 54 Tribes and Tribal Agencies who attended the CDP’s 2018 Tribal Training Week, March 19-23. (Photo by John Van Winkle)

CDP hosts 2018 Tribal Nations Training Week

The CDP hosted its annual Tribal Nations Training Week March 19-23. The focused training event brought together 177 students representing 54 tribes and tribal agencies who participated in six different training courses.

Center for Domestic Preparedness earns Federal Law Enforcement Training Accreditation

The Center for Domestic Preparedness’ Field Force Operations Training Program is now accredited by the Federal Law Enforcement Training Accreditation (FLETA) Board of Directors.

The TruDefender spectrometer displays the analysis of a “suspicious substance.”

CDP employs emerging technologies to train responders

Several Center for Domestic Preparedness courses include training on tools and technologies that will improve readiness and response capabilities.

Group photo: From left to right on the front row: Center for Domestic Preparedness Field Force instructors, Mike Phillips, Danny Oliver and Frank Flynn. Far right, Craig Palmer, the Western Region nonresident training manager.

CDP instructors save swimmers while conducting training in Hawaii

The efforts of two Center for Domestic Preparedness instructors may have saved the lives of two swimmers at Hawaii’s Waikiki Beach, recently.

CDP offers Environmental Health professionals training on disaster response skills

Nearly 10 years ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Environmental Health Services Branch (EHSB) delivered the first Environmental Health Training in Emergency Response (EHTER) Awareness Level course at the National Environmental Health Association’s 2006 Annual Educational Conference & Exhibition in San Antonio, Texas. Based on the tremendous success of this introductory ...

HAZMAT Ops students in personal protective equipment apply newly acquired assessment skills during a hands-on exercise at the CDP.

CDP's new operations-level HAZMAT course can help responders save lives, mitigate damage

The Center for Domestic Preparedness has added a new operations-level course to its hazardous materials program. Registration is now open for the Hazardous Materials Operations (HAZMAT Ops) course, which is available to responders in any discipline and will be offered for the first time in August.

Law enforcement officers apply active-shooter response training during an Integrated Capstone Event (ICE) at the CDP.

CDP training helps responders at San Bernardino shooting

“We need to prepare for the inevitable. The Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) and its staff gave us the best tools to bring materials and best-practices back to Loma Linda, [California],” said Emergency Management Specialist Georgann Smith last June after training at the CDP. At that time, Smith could not have known that she would be putting her training to the test less than six months later...

The Apprio transportation team drove more than 228,000 miles last year, transporting a combined total of 351,000 passengers, all without a single accident.

Apprio Transportation Team CDP’s Welcoming Committee

It is said that you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Be it the first day at a new job or the first day of school, that inaugural interaction sets the tone.

Student nurses from Lawson State Community College train on the M256A1 Chemical Agent Detector Kit at the CDP, March 23.

Lawson State nurses train at the CDP

For the first time, students from Lawson State Community College (LSCC), a historically Black college, attended training at the Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP), in Anniston, Ala., March 23.

Angela Busby, a TERT instructor at the CDP, trains first responders from a 50-person cohort from Utah. The CDP reached a milestone in cohort training by hosting 50 responders from a spectrum of emergency management disciplines all from the state of Utah, and hopes it’s the first of many such groups

Utah responders train en masse at the CDP

The Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) in Anniston, Ala., trains thousands of students every year, often by grouping students in cohorts that allow responders from one location or region to train together. The CDP reached a milestone in cohort training by hosting 50 responders from a spectrum of emergency management disciplines all from the state of Utah, in hopes it’s the first of many such g...

Lt. Bryan Hardin (left) and Tim Irvin (right) meet after the incident. Days earlier, Hardin assisted Irvin, who was choking during lunch at the CDP’s cafeteria.