Disaster Preparation – First Responders in Northeast Arizona are Ready!

8/3/15 – The first responders of Northeast Arizona are coming together this week to conduct a large full scale exercise. This will be a joint exercise with partners coming from all over Navajo and Apache Counties as well as state, federal and tribal responders. Northland Pioneer College has partnered with the first responders, Navajo County Emergency Management, Summit Regional Medical Center and many more in order to facilitate a real-to-life scenario.

The first responders in our communities want the citizens and visitors to know they are doing everything in their power to be ready in the event of a tragedy. While we certainly hope that nothing like Columbine would happen in our part of the world we are making sure that we are ready if it does.

This training exercise is a “Whole Community” effort. Students at the college will add to the realism by having make-up applied to resemble realistic wounds. Medical responders will evaluate and transport those ‘victims’ as they are triaged to the Summit Healthcare Regional Medical Center. Summit in turn will ‘treat’ the victims as they would in real life to make sure they are also ready.

In addition to local responders, the 91st Civil Support Team based out of Phoenix will combine efforts with the local responders to maintain their skills and enhance the working relationship they have built with area responders for the last several years. The U.S. Army North aided in the exercise with planning support and expertise.

This event is taking place August 5th at the Northland Pioneer College Campus in Show Low and we would ask that the general public be aware of additional traffic in the area throughout the day. If it is possible to avoid the area it would aid in minimizing traffic delays.

 

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