Full Scale Emergency Drill
by Ben Hogwood

Lamoille County organizations are preparing for a full scale emergency
exercise at the Lamoille Union High School on Saturday, May 1.
The event, which has been in the planning stages since April of last
year, will simulate a major calamitous event to which police, fire
departments and other emergency crews will respond.
"The goal is to increase the emergency preparedness level," said Jim
Rose, planning technician with the Lamoille County Planning Commission.
The operation is being funded mainly through a federal Hazardous
Material Emergency Planning Grant, acquired for the Local Emergency
Response Committee District #11. "The mission of LEPCs is to provide
resources and guidance to the community through education, coordination
and assistance in hazardous materials safety, hazard mitigation,
preparedness, response and recovery planning to assure public health and
safety," stated a press release from Rose.
Lamoille County Sheriff Roger Marcoux, Jr. said the training will
consist of components useful to fire, EMS, HazMat, the school, Johnson
State College, and the Red Cross, all who will be involved to some
degree in the event. "Hostages" from the school will be transported to
JSC, where the Red Cross will be assisting with shelter.
In preparation for the larger event, groups involved took part in a
functional exercise on Wednesday, April 7. Working around two scenarios,
one of an intruder in the school and the other of a traffic accident,
the agencies separated into different rooms and communicated via
telephone. Rose said there were mixed responses, but overall the
exercise went well.
Sheriff Marcoux said the main shortcoming was the amount of time the
operation took. This prevented them from doing anything other than the
law enforcement aspect of the exercise. "We're working to resolve any
shortcomings we found out," he said.
The details of the May 1 event are being withheld from the participating
organizations to add realism. LEPC 11 hired Cindy Hahn, of Multi Hazard
Planning Services, to take the goals for this exercise and build an
exercise based around them.
While certain agencies, such as the Red Cross, food, and volunteers,
will be staged at the facility prior to the event, most participating
agencies will be called out as they would normally be dispatched to add
realism.
A big advantage to the event is the chance for local emergency teams to
learn the new layout of the school. Many police officers have not been
inside the school since the reconstruction, completed in 2002. LCSD now
knows the layout and would be able to get the emergency plan from the
school in a fraction of the time it previously could since working on
this exercise.
Another important aspect of the exercise is having all the different
agencies who would be involved in a major incident meet each other. The
only time agencies typically convene, said Sheriff Marcoux, is during a
car accident.
Rose said that just having everyone in the same room during the meetings
is aiding the response situation. "Even the conversations are helping,"
he said, "putting names to faces."
Teachers and students will also be participating in the event, playing
their respective roles in the school. Rose is still looking for
volunteers to play students and angry parents. Anyone interested should
call Rose, at LCPC, at 888-4548.
The event will begin between nine and 10 a.m. and go until approximately
12 p.m. Sheriff Marcoux would like to remind people that, with Green Up
Day also on May 1, there will be extra activity between clean up crews
and emergency response teams on the roads. Motorists should be
especially careful. While much of the activity will be taking place on
Route 15 outside the school, LCSD will not be closing the road.
Hahn will give a final report specifying the strengths and weaknesses of
the event some time after completion. The different agencies will then
focus on training in those weaker areas.
Marcoux said all agencies will be ready to respond to a real event if it
occurrs during the exercise. "The best training comes when you put
stress on yourself," he said.