| Cottonwood
to host Active Threat Integrated Response Course Nov. 15-17
Imagine the unimaginable; someone attacks our school intent on hurting your children. What do your emergency responders do? How do they respond to deal with the victims and how do they save those who need help quickly? Are they prepared to rescue the number of people injured? Those are some of the questions that came up years ago as GPD Chief Drew and I researched exactly how we would incorporate our Fire, EMS, and Law Enforcement agencies and get everyone on the same page to work together to quickly rescue victims from an Active Shooter in a school type of scenario. We were stymied for a bit, and then I found the Active Threat Integrated Response Course (ATIRC). This is a national course, based out of Louisiana, which involves all entities responding to an incident, and actively working together in a ‘warm zone’ type environment, where there may be a second person, to quickly and efficiently rescue injured people from the area. Cottonwood Police will be hosting the ATIRC class in Cottonwood on November 15, 16 and 17th. November 15th will be at the auxiliary gym on Church Street in Cottonwood, November 16 and 17 will be at Prairie High School on Keuterville Road. The class will involve 43 participants, between Fire, EMS and Law Enforcement. We have Cottonwood and Grangeville Police Departments; Lewis, Nezperce, Latah and Boundary County Sheriff’s Offices; Idaho Fish and Game; St Mary’s Ambulance, Syringa Ambulance, Potlatch, Nezperce and Kamiah EMS; Cottonwood, Elk City, Potlatch and Wheatland Fire Departments and Grangeville Mountain Rescue Unit along with 19 role players for the scenarios on Sunday, November 17th at Prairie High School. Sunday will also include dispatchers from Idaho and Lewis Counties to help with the communication needs for the scenerios. Friday will be mostly class room time, with some stuff outside on how to move as a team. Saturday will be a little more amped up, with ‘walk through’ scenarios and class room work at the high school. Sunday will involve ambulances from Syringa and St Mary’s ‘responding’ to incidents at the school from a staging area near the school where they will pick up ‘patients’ which the folks inside have rescued and extricated to the closes exit from the building. The event will NOT involve folks shooting inside the school, with any kind of real or simulation weapons. There will be one instructor firing a blank gun (nothing coming out of the barrel) on Sunday to add a touch of realism for the participants, but again, NO ROUNDS of ANY KIND will be shot inside the school. I would like to thank all the agencies that are taking the time to attend this training as well as all of our volunteer role players. I would also like to thank the Cottonwood School District Board, Superintendent Rene Forsmann, High School Principal John Rehder, and Maintenance Supervisor Jake Forsmann for all of their help getting this to happen. A thank you goes out to Idaho County Emergency Manager Jerry Zumalt for his assistance in getting this together as well. Folks, this will be a much needed, long time coming, training event. I, along with every responder in our area, pray that this will never happen here. However, as I’ve told numerous folks at many classes; if someone will attack a one room Amish school house, we are not invisible and it could happen here. Proper preparation and training is the best defense. |
 |