Live exercise helps train county's emergency response teams

*Firefighters assess a victim, played by Alyssa Pierce, during the drill.*

Ferdinand—On Saturday morning, Ferdinand residents may have been surprised to find a multitude of emergency responders, police and firefighters surrounding the MasterBrand plant on 3rd Street.

Fortunately, this wasn’t a true emergency; it was a live training exercise conducted by the Dubois County Local Emergency Planning Committee to ensure county responders are prepared when a real emergency occurs.

Saturday’s event is the culmination of a two-year process. Live exercises are held every other year, and in off years, a tabletop exercise provides emergency responders a chance to walk through the planned scenario in a relaxed training session.

*Firefighters from area departments set up the wash station to respond to a hazardous chemical spill at MasterBrand Plant 22 in Ferdinand on Saturday morning.*

Saturday’s scenario began with a forklift driver having a medical emergency, causing a crash into a bank of industrial batteries. Damage to the batteries resulted in an acid leak, injuring other employees through contact with the acid and inhaling the poisonous fumes. To add to the confusion, a child played by a CPR training dummy was struck by a vehicle along the street next to the factory during the event.

The live drill incorporated realistic elements of every aspect of the response. The county hazardous material response team suited up to respond inside the factory. At the same time, multiple ambulances and emergency medical providers tended to the wounded, six volunteers provided by MasterBrand. The individuals were triaged and transported to Memorial Hospital while firefighters continued working with the spill. The exercise ended with a press conference that involved a student, Sam Stratman, from Southridge’s Newspaper Club working with local media.

*Nikki Mandabach, a MasterBrand employee, and other victims wait outside the plant for help from the responding emergency teams at the beginning of the exercise.*

Afterward, a debriefing was held in which the organizers and observers from the LEPC team provided feedback on the response and ways to improve or alternatives to consider to help in the response if it were to occur.

There were 68 participants, and nine of the 12 county fire departments were represented, along with the Ferdinand Police Department, the Dubois County Sheriff’s Department, Deaconess Emergency Medical Services, Dubois County Dispatch, Dubois County Health Department, Indiana Homeland Security and Dubois County Emergency Management.

*EMA Director Tammy Humbert,* *along with members of the exercise planners, provided a brief before the live exercise began Saturday morning.*

EMA Director Tammy Humbert said she was happy with the turnout and the lessons learned at the event.

“That is the entire point of doing an exercise,” she explained. “We want things to go south during a drill, and not when we’re responding to a real event.”

That last live exercise in Ferdinand occurred about 15 years ago and involved a collision between a school bus and a tractor hauling anhydrous ammonia near the baseball field.

#18 EMA Director Tammy Humbert gave an exercise brief to the attending departments, which included local fire departments, Deaconess Emergency Responders, Ferdinand Police and the county Hazardous Material Response Team.