Professional First Responders (Police, Fire, Ambulance, in most locales) are often augmented by local volunteer responders which includes CERT-qualified volunteers plus well-meaning but untrained individuals who happened to be on the scene. Are these volunteers a help or a hindrance to the professionals? Some thoughts to address: imagine that you are the Incident Commander, acting within the structure of the Incident Command System (ICS) and you need all the help you can get during your disaster -- would you ensure that only professionals be allowed on the scene of a disaster? Or would you allow volunteers to assist you? What if there is a shortage of professionals, should volunteers (whether CERT-trained or untrained) be "drafted" to provide additional manpower under the supervision of a qualified professional?