MRPC News

November 8, 2005

For Immediate Release
    Bonnie Prigge or Tammy Snodgrass—573-265-2993


MARIES COUNTY EMERGENCY RESPONDERS PARTICIPATE IN WMD TRAINING

VICHY—Some 22 emergency responders from eight agencies in Maries County participated in a Weapons of Mass Destruction tabletop exercise, hosted by the Vichy Volunteer Fire Department.

The Vichy department requested and received training funds from the State Emergency Management Agency’s Homeland Security grant program to conduct a tabletop exercise to practice response capabilities and identify weakness, associated with a WMD incident. The department contracted with Meramec Regional Planning Commission to develop a realistic, localized exercise that would bring multiple response agencies together. All response agencies serving Maries County were invited to participate in the training, held Sept. 17 at the Vichy Volunteer Fire Department.

Those participating included:
•   Jodi Waltman, Director of the Phelps/Maries County Health Department;
•  Jim Buechter, Dixon Fire Department, Brinktown Station;
•  Chuck McArthur, Rolla Rural Fire Protection District;
•  Ken Ramsey, Maries County Emergency Management Director;
•  Shannon Thompson, Vienna Police;
•  Sheriff Doug DiNatale and Donnie Chambers, Maries County Sheriff’s Department;
•  Robin Pfeiffer, Ozark Central Ambulance; and
•  Ken Woll, Brenda Chambers, Don Chambers, Russell Otis, Mark Chamber, Mike Prigge, Scott Lunceford, Craig Ozee, Kimberly Ozee, Scott Stern, David Hairfield
Jessica Bedwell, Sara Skaggs and Yolanda Skaggs, all of the Vichy Fire Department.

Participants commented that the incident was well planned with a plausible scenario, and was geared for a smaller jurisdiction with limited resources. Tammy Snodgrass of MRPC developed the scenario and facilitated the exercise.

At the conclusion of the training, participants discussed the need for notification of credible threats. While federal and state agencies receive these, they do not always filter down to the local level. The group also discussed the importance of emergency responders wearing protective gear at all calls to help safeguard against contamination from chemicals and biological hazards. The tabletop also brought forth the lack of resources within the sheriff’s department because of its small size. Lastly, it was discovered that most emergency response agencies had not received a current copy of the Maries County Local Emergency Operations Plan from the county. The county’s emergency management director is resolving that issue.

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