To help prepare police, fire and emergency services to control the aftermath of a terrorist attack featuring mass casualties, Clarkston High School became an ultra-realistic training ground on Aug. 24. Police, fire and emergency agencies from around Oakland County, including Independence Township, participated in the training exercise.
‘Our overall strategy is to strengthen the capabilities of local first responders,? said Michael Loper, emergency management specialist for Oakland County.
The simulated scenario featured an individual with an explosive device and two individuals wielding guns, creating a hostage situation during a school play. When one of the gun wielding individuals did not hold their post, control over the school play’s audience was diminished, leading to a string of events culminating with the detonation of the explosive device.
?(This exercise) gives police, fire and emergency services a chance to work together. We have lessons to learn from 9/11, Columbine and Oklahoma City,? said Mike Johnson, captain with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department.
After the situation inside the school deteriorated, the Oakland County Special Response Team was the first group to enter the building.
?(The command center) is looking for information from us to see if it is safe to come into the building. We advise if it is safe for the fire department to come in to the building,? said Jason Louwaert, an Oakland County Sheriff’s deputy who took part in the drill.
Once the fire fighters were allowed into the building they, in turn, made sure the path was safe for the paramedics.
All three agencies? efforts were coordinated from a command center, located close by, but away from school grounds.
To ensure the exercise effectively modeled a real mass casualty situation, Image Perspectives, created moulages or recreations of physical and structural damage from a variety of causes.
The victims of the attack were made up to reflect injuries ranging from mortal to minor, and coached as to how to act in accordance to their injuries by Image Perspectives? staff and local volunteers.
‘We are brought in to do the wounds and injuries. We use Gelefects, which is a liquid that as it cools becomes solid and has the consistency of gummy bears,? said Laura Haven of Image Perspectives.
Aside from the victims of the incident, Image Perspectives also moulaged the walls around the detonation area creating a stirring and realistic scene.
‘Everything happens so fast. It’s hard to be organized. You have to have practice to know what to do in a situation like this,? said Ryan Jaworski, a student at Troy Athens who became involved with the exercise through the Oakland County Explorers.
During the exercise, Jaworski’s character was chasing the perpetrator with the explosive device down a hallway and died in the explosion.
Once the area was secured and lingering air-born threats ruled out, the victims were categorized by degree ? from critically injured to walking wounded ? and removed from the area.
‘Mutual aid is the key word,? said Loper, who had high praise for both Independence Fire Chief Steve Ronk’s charges and Lt. Dave LeBair’s officers from the Oakland County Sherrif’s Independence Township substation.
‘They provide such great services to Independence Township,? said Loper.
The drill ran from approximately 9 a.m.-noon. Afterwards, the reaction was positive.
‘From what I understand it went pretty well,? said Johnson.
Anita Banach, director of communications for Clarkston schools, felt the exercise showed how Clarkston High School could be better prepared.
Banach said the district will work on cross training employees on specific security measures and intricacies of the building so that even if the principal is away from the school during an incident, a lock-down of the student body can still be swiftly executed.
Oakland County has staged several mass casualty incident exercises in the past. This was the first of this scale for the northern end of the county.
More information on terrorism preparedness can be found on the Oakland County website at www.co.oakland.mi.us/ems/