Orion Township firefighters joined other Oakland County fire departments Feb. 12 in a Michigan Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) Engine Strike Team Exercise.

The purpose of the exercise, which included fire departments from 16 counties throughout Michigan, was to simulate critical tasks as well as resource deployment through Michigan’s mutual aid system.

The exercise tested the capability to move fire resources during a disaster and test Michigan’s statewide communication.

“At any time, one of our communities could be faced with a natural or manmade disaster that requires more resources than the affected community or their surrounding communities can provide. That’s when our statewide system of mutual aid resources is activated,” said Orion Twp. Fire Chief Rod Duke.

The Oakland County exercise that Orion Township participated in was held at the Oakland Mall and had fire departments from Addison Township, Commerce Township, Novi and Troy participating.

One command officer and three firefighters from the Orion Township Fire Department participated in the training event, and they will share the information they acquired with the rest of the fire personnel, Duke said.

The training session was a smaller event, which fire departments will see more of, with a larger exercise likely happening in the summer, Duke said.

The mission of Michigan MABAS is to coordinate the effective and efficient intrastate and interstate mobilization and deployment of fire, emergency medical services, and special operations mutual aid resources, during natural and man-made emergencies and disasters, according to information on mabasmi.org.

Currently, there are 28 MABAS divisions in Michigan.

It is good for Orion residents to know that while firefighters have mutual aid agreements with neighboring communities, they also have the MABAS resource, Duke said.

The Brown Road gas main explosion in November 2017 is an example of when Orion Township could have sought aid through the MABAS Engine Strike Team. Other examples could include major fires, train derailments, tornadoes, wildfires, domestic or foreign terrorism and other events that may overwhelm local resources.

Orion Township does have mutual aid agreements with surrounding communities, but the MABAS training session was designed for larger scale incidents. – J.N.