Last week, several local law enforcement agencies gathered at the Whitesboro Middle School campus for Active Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) training.
ALERRT focuses on law enforcement response during active shooter responses, but the Whitesboro Fire Department (WFD) was able to participate when the class moved to running scenarios.
Almost 20 WFD firefighters and medics joined the WISD Police Department (who hosted the event), Whitesboro Police Department, and several other local law enforcement agencies to take advantage of the training opportunity and add more realism to the operational needs of an active shooter situation.
While the police departments focused on the active shooter threat, the fire department focused on treating and evacuating victims and wounded individuals as law enforcement secured areas or brought them to a safe area. Once contacted by WFD, the victims were triaged, prioritized and moved to treatment areas.
The fire department was able to perform skills and tactics that are not commonly practiced.
“Mass casualty situations are not very common, so being able to respond and work these types of scenarios was very beneficial,” Paramedic Taylor Jeffrey said. “Being able to triage and treat patients in a more realistic environment is important, and this training ultimately gave us more tools and ideas to further serve our community.”
The fire department was able to rotate their personnel through multiple scenarios allowing most to play several different roles before the day was over. The department was also able to practice with some new mass casualty equipment it placed in service, as well as test out some tactics and ideas for mass casualty response.
While the active shooter training was very situational, the mass casualty portion of the drill will benefit the department in other ways.
“The mass casualty aspect of the training is something that we can use in many other situations,” Firefighter/Paramedic Cody Keller said. “Large accidents, natural disasters -- basically any time we have more patients than our resources can handle -- we can put these protocols into place to help mitigate the incident.”
The fire department hopes to participate in more of these drills in the future, with a goal of training twice a year.
WISD Police Chief Aaron Scott invited WFD to participate in the drill, and the department hopes to continue to partner with WISD PD for future trainings. Until then, the department will continue to develop protocols and tactics for active shooter and mass casualty events to better prepare the personnel for potential future events.
Source: Freepik.com