On June 7, 2012 Darke County Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) and Darke County Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management (EMA) held a Functional Disaster Drill.
The drill was designed by a LEPC planning sub-committee consisting of Cheryl Batten, BASF; Mark Dotson, Greenville Twp Rescue; Shawn Brandenburg, Greenville Fire Dept and Darke County HazMat; Dave Iverson, The Anderson’s; Dale Farmer, Ohio EPA; Pam Gibson, Ohio EMA and Mindy Saylor, Darke County EMA.
According to Section 3750.04(C) of the Ohio Revised Code, LEPC’s must conduct an exercise of their Hazardous Materials Plan annually. The exercise shall be observed with a formal review to be submitted to the Ohio EPA State Emergency Response Commission (SERC).
Agencies that participated in the drill were Darke County Commissioners, Versailles Fire Dept, Versailles Police Dept, Greenville Twp Rescue, Greenville Fire Dept, Darke County Sheriff’s Office, Darke County HazMat, Darke County EMA, Ohio EMA, Darke County Coroner, Darke County Chapter American Red Cross, Darke County Health Dept, ODOT, Darke County Highway Dept, Wayne Healthcare, Spirit Medical Transport and Citizen Emergency Response Team (CERT).
“This functional drill was designed to test our Emergency Operations Center (EOC), Population Protective Actions, Resource Management and Emergency Public Information plans and procedures,” stated Mindy Saylor Director of Darke County EMA.
The areas reviewed were evaluated by Jeff Jordan, Montgomery County EMA; Billy Ring, Retired Dayton HazMat and Delbert Braund, Darke County EMA Public Information Officer (PIO).
“Exercises and drills are an essential training tool used to test our capabilities with a realistic scenario based on an identified threat our county faces. We now will host an After Action Conference (AAC) to review the final report from Ohio SERC and identify any areas that need to be addressed in our planning process,” said Saylor.
The AAC is scheduled for the next Quarterly LEPC meeting on September 18, 2012 at 10:00 AM in the Emergency Operations Center.
“I cannot thank everyone involved enough, from the planning committee to the players and evaluators. Without all the cooperation and teamwork we could not be successful in these drills,” explained Saylor.
If anyone would like further information contact the Darke County Emergency Management Agency at 937-548-1444.
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