In 2010 the Margate CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) started an event called Fire Prevention Family Fun Day held at Firefighters Park to raise money for their team. Over the years, the event has grown - so much so that they needed a larger venue and more personnel to run the event. In 2017, the event name changed to Florida Family Safety Fest. The event moved to the Sportsplex in Coral Springs and is now run by all of the CERT teams in Broward County with the support of the Fire Chiefs' Association of Broward County, a 501(c)3 corporation, as a fund raiser for the local teams.
CERT teams provide free training in disaster response to ordinary citizens throughout the country. Team members work closely with a sponsoring agency, usually a fire or police department, to advance their training and to learn new skills. When called upon, teams provide large-scale emergency and disaster response, first aid and safety at public service events, assistance with missing person searches, firefighter rehab, along with many other support functions as requested by the local agencies.
The Florida Family Safety Fest event will have something for the entire family. There will be food vendors, children's activities, bounce houses, SWAT and K-9 demonstrations by the police departments, extrication demonstrations by local fire departments, equipment displays from police, fire and other agencies and much, much more.