Hummer Emergency Response Team (HERT)
The Illiana Hummer Club’s Hummer Emergency Response Team (HERT) is a unique group of trained & certified volunteers that offer specialized disaster assistance to any local emergency or law enforcement agencies in both Illinois and Indiana. Team members have certifications and training such as FEMA IS 15a, 100, 200, 700, 800, PADI w/ underwater rescue, C.E.R.T., HazMat, heavy machine operation, CDL, CPR & AED, SAR Tech II, SAR 200, SAR 250, K9220, K9420, etc…
Most importantly, each HERT team member is an expert Hummer driver with years of off-road & extreme situation driving & extrication experience.
How HERT Began
The Illiana Hummer Club’s HERT Team began when members noticed over the past 8 years, that there were extreme situations in the Chicagoland area relating to dramatic weather conditions. At those times, emergency vehicles and personnel became incapable of providing services or help to individuals and businesses due to the extreme conditions. In those instances, members of the I.H.C. were called upon by local authorities to assist in emergency situations with their vehicles. Seeing the need to have a trained, certified group that could offer disaster assistance, the I.H.C. formed the Hummer Emergency Response Team (HERT). The founding HERT directors were deputized by Lake County Sheriff John Buncich and have been involved in keeping the HERT Team trained and ready to assist any emergency or law enforcement agency in any situation that might arise.
Currently
Team training is done every 2 to 3 months and varies from our urban training area in Gary, IN to an extreme rural environment found at the “Badlands” in Attica, IN.
Recently, the HERT team acquired a Silver Eagle Humvee/Hummer Trailer soon to be outfitted with specialized equipment for use by team members during activations. Relationships made during recent activations (Missing Purdue student & Dyer, IN hospital flooding) have led to signed MOU’s (memorandum of understanding) with new agencies throughout the area.
