Scenario Tests Response for Mass Public Emergency

(TNS) – Over 100 emergency management officers from across the state gathered at Lake Junaluska last week to test how well they would fare in a crisis or natural disaster.

The federally funded, four-day training event put participants through the paces of a hypothetical scenario. After setting the stage with a mass public emergency, teams dove into tabletop simulations to role play how they would respond, while also gaining credentials in the field of emergency management.

The workroom was something out of a Hollywood film. Armed with computers and whiteboards, the buzz of adrenaline filled the air as participants working against the clock to resolve the pretend crisis.

“It’s up to each team to decide on how they want to start tackling the incident and what resources they are asking for,” said Allison Richmond, public information officer for Haywood County Emergency Services.

Each team is given the same scenario with different roadblocks along the way. Faux resources can be ordered “to make it feel more real,” said Richmond.

Teams included law enforcement, emergency services, hospitals, forest management, public health and county administrators. Each person at the table played an essential role, one relying on the next to manage the disaster.

“Team members were chosen by skill set and incident-specific positions with certain roles to fill — incident commander, logistics officer, public information officer, operations chief, down to smaller teams,” said Richmond. “It gives them a chance to exercise their skills.”

Relationship building

Every year, the training brings together members of the statewide incident management team, with different regions taking turns hosting the exercise.

“We were fortunate to be chosen by state emergency management to host this year,” said Cody Parton , assistant emergency management coordinator with Haywood Emergency Services.

In fact, Haywood served as their host for the inaugural training in 2016 and every time it’s been WNC’s turn since then.

The statewide incident management team compiles the best of the best in emergency response in North Carolina and is designed to help local communities when large-scale disasters hit. The team not only handles natural disasters, but are also on scene for large sporting events, such as the Super Bowl.

The N.C. IMT has also been deployed to hard hit areas such as the hurricane in Puerto Rico and the volcanic eruption in Hawaii , as well as other similar catastrophes outside of the state.

“When the winds begin to blow, the fire begins to burn and the water begins to rise, it may go beyond the capabilities of a local entity,” said Tommy Batson , emergency management director from Pender County who came to the training. “That’s when the local entity will reach out to the state and request an Incident Management Team.”

Batson said that relationship building during the training exercise will pay off should a real disaster strike.

“We establish relationships and foster those, so we all know who we are working for when disaster happens,” said Batson. “We would rather meet face to face prior to the event happening. The faster we can get the lights on, grocery stores open, water and sewer back on, the faster the people can get back to some normalcy in life.”

“Almost no one handles a single incident all by themselves,” Richmond added.

In a real-life scenario, an incident management team is pulled together from a qualified and credentialed pool of over 500 personnel from across the state.

“The team that gets called in isn’t necessarily a team that just sits somewhere,” said Richmond. “The team is comprised by people like us from all over the state who come together to form a team, then travel to wherever it is you need to go.”

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