Scott Baio and his wife Renee are now ready and willing to respond to an emergency in their community after going through some extensive training on fires, earthquakes and even terrorist attacks.
The Blast spoke with Scott and Renee, who tell us after their 10-year-old daughter Bailey‘s school was threatened by recent wildfires and seeing the destruction in Santa Barbara they decided to get involved by helping their own neighborhood prepare for disaster.
We’re told the Baio’s HOA decided that a dozen or so people should be CERT trained to help in case emergencies, especially help many of the elderly people around their Woodland Hills community.
The training for the L.A. Community Emergency Response Team was done in seven 2-hour classes held at the LAPD Topanga Division. Scott, Renee and Bailey all attended.
The training consisted of learning how to triage after an accident, light search & rescue, team organization and basic medical procedures like executing a tourniquet. We’re told some of the training also touched on active shooters and terrorist attacks.
Tuesday night Scott and his wife both graduated and became level 1 CERT members. The graduation ceremony was held at the LAPD station and even included a potluck with a ton of food. Afterwards, we’re told the extra food was shared with the police officers in the station.
It can’t be ignored that Baio is still under investigation by LAPD for the alleged sexual assault of Nicole Eggert, but the actor tells us he “Loves and respects the police,” and that he knows they have a job to do and believes “they will do it properly.”
After receiving his certification, Scott went around the LAPD station and shook the hands of the police officers and thanked them for their service. He tells us he “Really appreciates law enforcement for all that they do,” and says he takes the opportunity “Anytime that we can thank them in person, especially with our daughter who we’ve raised to respect people in uniform.”
As far as the CERT training being put to use, Scott says he was recently in a restaurant when a man collapsed. The actor tells us his training kicked in and he immediately responded to the man, who turned out to be ok.
