The CERT Expo began in 2003 in Snohomish County. At that time, it was held at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds in Monroe, and around 75 CERT volunteers came out for the day.
In 2005 the CERT Expo was moved to the Everett Community College. Participants chose from a variety of continuing education sessions in the morning, and participated in a disaster exercise in the afternoon.
In 2007 the Expo moved to the Washington State Fire Training Academy to facilitate engagement of CERT volunteers from across the state. Plus, it is a really cool place to practice those disaster skills – without alarming the neighbors! The Expo has been held at this location ever since. Children’s Hospital and the State Citizen Corps were brought in as partners to be able to expand the size and scope. The focus that year was on skill refresher through training and disaster exercise.
Since 2008 the Expo has expanded to include Citizen Corps partners and affiliates, ever growing in size and complexity to allow disaster response volunteers to be better trained and prepared to assist when the need arises. In 2009 and 2010 over 300 people were involved in the Expo.