Free · Certificate included
Emergency Response Basics
Know what to do in the first critical minutes of any emergency.
What you’ll learn
- React calmly and decisively in the first minutes of an emergency
- Follow your emergency action plan, evacuation, and shelter procedures
- Know when to call 911 and what to say
- Recognize when CPR, an AED, choking care, or bleeding control is needed
- Help build a go-kit and a working communication-and-roles plan
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Create a free account →Course outline
- 1
The first 60 seconds: stay calm, take charge
Emergencies are won or lost in the first minute.
5 min Quiz Interactive - 2
Your Emergency Action Plan (EAP)
The best time to figure out what to do in an emergency is long before one happens.
6 min Quiz - 3
Fire & evacuation: RACE and PASS
Fire moves fast and fills a room with smoke in seconds.
6 min Quiz Interactive - 4
Medical emergencies: 911, CPR, AED & choking
Most volunteer-setting medical emergencies come down to a handful of situations: someone collapses, someone can’t breathe, or someone is badly hurt.
8 min Quiz Interactive - 5
Stop the Bleed: control severe bleeding
Uncontrolled bleeding is the number-one cause of preventable death from trauma — and a person can bleed to death in just a few minutes.
5 min Quiz Interactive - 6
Severe weather & sheltering
Different weather threats call for opposite responses.
5 min Quiz Interactive - 7
Communication, roles & your go-kit
In a real emergency, two things fall apart fastest: who is doing what, and how people communicate.
5 min Quiz Interactive
Sources & further reading
- Ready.gov (FEMA) — Make a Plan & Build a Kit
- U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) — Emergency Action Plans — 29 CFR 1910.38
- American Red Cross — Adult & Child Choking: Symptoms and First Aid
- American Heart Association — What Is CPR — Hands-Only CPR
- American College of Surgeons — Stop the Bleed — Bleeding Control: Pressure, Packing, Tourniquet
- National Weather Service / Ready.gov — Tornado & Severe Weather Safety
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