This group, comprised mainly of emergency services personnel and county officials, put emergency response plans to the test during a tabletop exercise Wednesday at the Akron Community Center. Wesley Dehne / The Sentinel photo
In an effort to test and refine county response plans, 50 people took part in a simulated emergency tabletop exercise Wednesday evening at the Akron Community Center.
During the exercise, emergency services personnel including police officers, firefighters, medics, dispatchers and county officials, discussed their roles and responses to a fictitious emergency situation. Such exercises provide an opportunity for those who play key roles during a real emergency to network and learn response tactics from one another.
“It’s important to establish our strengths and weaknesses while building relationships with each other working together to protect and serve our community,” said Fulton County Emergency Management Agency Director Gail Karas. She also serves as the county’s 911 director.
The scenario was unknown to participants heading into the exercise. One major player was Sonoco, whose facility off Indiana 19 in Akron was the site chosen for the exercise.
“We try to rotate townships, and we hadn’t been in Henry Township for a while,” Karas said.
Furthermore, she noted that Sonoco is one of the county’s Tier III hazmat groups and one of its chemicals could be used to simulate a real-life event.
In summary, as road conditions are worsening due to a mix of ice and snow, a tanker transporting 5,000 gallons of an adhesive liquid is pulling out from the Sonoco facility when it hits a patch of ice and tips over. As the driver is talking with dispatchers, two cars slide into the side of the tanker. It’s reported that five people are injured and trapped in the cars.
With that framework in mind, participants were asked to discuss processes and any potential barriers they may face. They also were provided a safety data sheet – MSDS – by Sonoco identifying the substance spilled, precautions for safe handling, disposal considerations and more.
Problems to work through not only included cleanup of the spill and tipped tanker, but also improving the hazardous road conditions and providing medical treatment to the injured.
“There were many stakeholders at the table working solutions with the limited resources our county already experiences,” Karas said. “We all had great input and solutions to these problems. Nobody failed or left feeling defeated. The training was well received and greatly attended.”
Prior to working through the scenario, representatives of Sonoco, INDOT and the Integrated Public Safety Commission each discussed what resources they can provide during an emergency situation.
“We noticed at the last tabletop that we needed more participation coming to the table and we filled that gap,” Karas noted. “We were missing other law enforcement agencies and Fort Wayne INDOT, but that is it. We brought a well-known industry to the table, and it was stated how that enhanced training. They would like to see more businesses come to the table, and I would agree.”
Plans are in the works for a full-scale exercise in the future.
“Our LEPC (Local Emergency Planning Council) works together to plan these events and try to work with hazmat chemicals that are known in our county,” Karas said. “This provides us with the know of the non-hazard and the safety risk that is involved. It also creates other scenarios that could also inject and create multiple accidents in one event bringing together a Unified Command Structure of Emergency Response.”
Karas added that she was humbled to see so many different agencies come to the table, along with outside sources. Participation ranged from county commissioners, the county council, county highway department, EMS, police and fire departments, the county EMA office and its volunteers to the coroner’s office, IPSC, IDHS, RTC, a ham radio operator and representation from DeKalb, Kosciusko and Pulaski counties, the county health department, hospital, 911, Sonoco, Pike Lumber and other EMA agencies.
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