Mock disaster has agencies on
the same frequency Copyright © 2008 MILAN Emergency response agencies from throughout
the area responded to a training exercise in Grants Saturday morning
and worked a preplanned drill of a weapons of mass destruction explosion. A call about an explosion was made at 9 a.m., and
Milan police were on scene within two to three minutes at Kearns
Park on the northwest portion of the village, Peggy Jordan, the
mock disaster director said. We think this was a very successful training
exercise because most, if not all, of our guide points were achieved,
she said. Responders Firefighters, emergency medical personnel, the state
highway department, Milan and Grants police departments, Cibola
County Sheriffs Department and New Mexico State police all
responded and were on scene shortly after the initial responder
called for support, she said. The exercise was relayed to the state emergency response
center in Santa Fe, which included Gov. Bill Richardson in what
was going on, updating the progress during the nearly three hour
event and the final results, Jordan said. Grants High School girls volleyball team members played
the part of victims of a chemical weapon which was to have exploded.
Cibola General Hospital also participated, Jordan said. The Four Cs correctional facility in Milan also
played a part by simulating an evacuation of its inmates and staff. The mock disaster was meant to test and evaluate several
different areas for emergency agencies, such as response by law
enforcement agencies, pre-hospital medical care, decontamination
procedures, the emergency operations center and hazardous materials
site management, Jordan said. The American Red Cross opened a shelter at the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints near the hospital and provided
lunch for the participants, William Merriman, the ARC emergency
representative in Cibola County said. We contracted with the youth group at First
United Methodist Church to provide lunch, he said. He said he purchased 252 donuts, 252 bottles of water,
300 energy bars, 144 assorted sodas, 300 cookies, coffee, cups,
creamer, sugar and stirring sticks to provide to several sites including
the mock disaster site, during the drill. Previous drill The last such training exercise was in January 2006,
also at Kearns Park. At that time nearly all of the responding agencies
could not talk to each other because each agency had its own radio
frequency. Weve come a long way, Jordan said. This time nearly all of the agencies had radios
that allowed them to communicate with each other on the same emergency
frequency because of an effort during the past nearly three years
to get similar radios for those agencies, she said. Following the exercise and lunch, agencies attended
a debriefing in order to evaluate what went wrong and what went
right, in order to learn from the drill, Jordan said. Seven evaluators from around the state, including
Don Armstrong, the states exercise coordinator, talked to
the responding agencies at the debriefing and one major weakness
was communications with the emergency operations center. We reported 12 casualties, but somehow that
got translated to 12 fatalities. I dont know how or why that
happened, Jordan said. But some people do not understand, or maybe
dont interpret some words the same way, she said. A report will now be made and provided to the county
agencies, including the Local Emergency Planning Committee, which
helped plan the mock disaster, and in it will be everything that
need to be improved and under what time line, Jordan said. It will be several weeks before that report
is sent to us though. Mock disasters which help train emergency personnel
like on Saturday are important. They help new emergency response
personnel learn how to respond to major disasters, what to do, what
not to do and help facilitate cooperation and an ability to work
together should a real disaster occur, Jordan said. To contact reporter Jim Tiffin call (505) 285-4560
or e-mail: jtiffin.independent |
Monday Grants Food pantry seeking donations Mock disaster has agencies on the same frequency Native America Section |
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