By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
It all started Wednesday at 7:30 a.m., when a pretend train accident in Perrysburg started leaking pretend hazardous materials in the city. There were pretend road closures, pretend evacuations and pretend injuries.
And if that wasn’t enough, a truckload of pigs overturned on Interstate 75, sending pretend pigs running throughout the city.
The scenario was pretend, but emergency responders were tasked with coming up with real answers to the crisis.
The Wood County Emergency Management Agency and the Wood County Local Emergency Planning Committee coordinated the exercise as mandated every four years.
Perrysburg officials were stationed on the fifth floor of the county office building, while county officials staffed the emergency operations center on the first floor.
Though pretend, the participants felt the pressure of a real hazardous material accident requiring the evacuation of Woodland Elementary School and Grace United Methodist Church to the BGSU book depository in Levis Commons.
The workers were bombarded with phone calls – some with valid information, others from people seeking information on where they should go, where they can take their pets, and why there were pigs running around the neighborhood.
“Communication is always the first victim of a disaster,” said Wood County EMA Director Brad Gilbert.
But Gilbert said emergency exercises like this are designed to highlight strengths and weaknesses. And while communication needs improvement, he said the teamwork was impressive among governments and agencies representing fire departments, police departments, utilities, Red Cross, EPA, ODNR, health district, schools, road engineers, animals control and others.
“We started off and this room just erupted with interaction and chatting,” Gilbert said of the county emergency operations center.
Tammy Feehan, disaster services supervisor for the Ohio EMA Northwest Region, said the teamwork in this county is notable.
“It’s always a learning experience. But Wood County has such good relationships between first responders, elected officers and the EMA,” Feehan said. “The collaboration that takes place strengthens the coordination and the communication.”
When the exercise was over – with the pretend patients being treated and the pretend pigs being corralled – the next challenge was to hold a mock press conference.
Perrysburg Municipal Administrator Bridgette Kabat described the hazard material incident, the evacuations, the decontamination efforts at area hospitals, and the symptoms that city residents should be on the lookout for – respiratory distress, skin rashes, dizziness. She gave the media a hotline number to get out to the public.
Perrysburg Assistant Fire Chief Rudy Ruiz explained CSX was on the scene, taking care of the pretend rail cars.
Then came time for the “hot wash,” when those involved in the drill discussed what went well and what needs work.
Bowling Green Fire Chief Tom Sanderson was stationed in the county emergency operations center – which is what might happen if Perrysburg was experiencing a major incident.
“I thought it was great. Things happened pretty fast and furious,” Sanderson said. “We don’t activate the EOC very often, so we need to practice.”
Though fake, drills like this are fast-paced and pressure-filled – especially when details are changing by the minute.
“It’s designed to be stressful,” said Pat Snyder, of the Wood County Health District. “They put a lot of twists and turns in a short period of time.”
“It’s a good test of where our strengths are and where we need to work on things,” Snyder said. “There’s always room for improvement dealing with communication.”
Snyder agreed that cooperation appeared to be a strength of the exercise.
“It was a good team environment,” she said, noting that people were called upon to stretch their skills. “Even though this might not be their everyday role, they are willing to step in.”
As public information officer, Jennifer Campos was charged with a lot of details during the drill.
“Personally, I found it a little overwhelming,” she said. “I was getting constant phone calls. It was a good learning experience for me. That’s the point of this.”
Gilbert was pleased with the outcome of the exercise, which had been planned months in advance. He did however, add one surprise. The truckload of pigs,” that was a last minute throw in,” he said, smiling.
