By Amy Leigh Womack
The Macon Telegraph, Ga.

MACON, Ga. — Downed trees made maneuvering through parts of south Macon and west Bibb County nearly impossible Sunday morning.

After fueling up her car on Hartley Bridge Road, Lynn Inglett said she started seeing increasingly more damage as she drove further north on Interstate 475.

"There were trees everywhere," said Inglett, a member of Bibb County's Community Emergency Response Team. "It was like the rubber dolls we used to play with."

Inglett and several other volunteers have waited years for an opportunity to use their CERT emergency training.

CERT is a national program developed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to prepare residents to provide aid to their neighbors in times of emergency.

Instructor Sandra Stone said about 150 people in Bibb County have completed the 20-hour CERT course, which provides instruction in emergency preparedness, first aid, fire safety, how to turn off natural gas lines and other skills useful when disaster strikes.

Upon graduation from the course, Stone said volunteers are issued backpacks outfitted with a hard hat, work gloves, safety vest, goggles, first aid kit, flashlight and other tools.

As a part of the training, Stone said volunteers undergo a disaster response drill.

"Usually we respond to a tornado" during the training exercise, she said.

Just hours after Sunday's storm, the Bibb County Sheriff's Office sent word by e-mail and word of mouth that it needed CERT volunteers' help. The volunteers don't carry pagers or radios to be summoned to service.

Inglett said deputies asked her to do a house-to-house search in the Pineworth area east of Lake Tobesofkee. It was her first time using the training she received in 2006.

"Ninety-five percent (of the houses) had a tree on them," she said, "but most of the neighbors had already checked on everybody. Most of the people were already out in their yards."

For the remaining houses, Inglett said she knocked on doors to ensure residents weren't injured and waited at a few houses either until residents returned or neighbors confirmed everyone was OK.

Another volunteer, Beth Lange, said her husband left home Sunday to get ice to preserve their frozen food when he passed by deputies at the destroyed Olympia Family Fun Center on Mercer University Drive and found they needed help.

Before Sunday's tornado, Lange said she and her husband had only used their training to help administer first aid to a lady in a parking lot.

With only a few trees littering their yard on Thomaston Road, Lange said the couple spent the day directing traffic on North Lizella Road.

"It was just (a way) to keep people safe," she said. "It feels good. It's our way of helping the community."

Law enforcement officials say the extra manpower provided by CERT volunteers is invaluable.

"They helped by going door-to-door, freeing up manpower and helped with traffic and just about anything else we asked for," said Bibb County Sheriff Jerry Modena. "It enabled us to stay in a mobile position and go where we needed.

Macon Police Department spokeswoman Sgt. Melanie Hofmann said the volunteers were able to reach out on the neighborhood level immediately, a task that might have taken longer for police.

"It's very helpful," she said.

Copyright 2008 The Macon Telegraph