Are we prepared?

BONNERS FERRY — In an uncertain world filled with terrorist attacks, mass shootings, natural disasters, and more, there is an underlying concern as to how such things will be handled. Will everything fall apart, or will the community come together? Although all of our first responders train on a regular basis, how will they respond when a large crisis hits home? How will all of the individual departments work together?

That question was answered on Sept. 19, when Boundary County Emergency Management planned an exercise with the 101st Army Civil Support Team from Boise.

“The exercise involved a vehicle entering the United States from Canada in which the driver was a known individual on the FBI’s list,” said Director of Emergency Management Michael Meier. “The vehicle continued after being pursued by the Border Patrol to an accident site at the airport.”

At the crash site, located at the Boundary County Airport, a white powder was found all over in and out of the vehicle. The driver, played by a dummy, was deceased, while others played the role of confused subjects. The scene played out from there, escalating as the first responders became overwhelmed by the white substance, leading to decontamination scenarios, both at the airport and the hospital.

The Idaho Hazmat Team was called and responded to handle the hazmat material along with the 101st Civil Support Team- WMD Army Group. The FBI also arrived at the scene, bringing the full spectrum of responders to the incident. The ground covered by this exercise stretched from the border, to the Good Grief Fire Station, the Boundary County Airport, Boundary Community Hospital, and the Bonners Ferry Armory.

“I had the great honor of being asked to be the Incident Commander and to work alongside Deputy Stolley as an effective Unified Command,” said North Bench Fire Chief Gus Jackson, who took his role very seriously. “Our command staff was filled by Operations Chief Jeff Lindsey and Planning Section Chief Dusty Kralik, and several liaisons from various agencies. Our Command Post and Unified Command was supported by Emergency Manager Mike Meier and his team of dedicated volunteers inside the Emergency Operation Center. The Logistics and Finance sections were also located inside the EOC and played a crucial role in support to our operations.”

The exercise tested all those, many of whom are volunteers, by starting at 4:30 a.m. and lasting until approximately 5:30 p.m. After a long drought, it was the first day that the rain really came down, soaking all that were involved long before the sun even came up.

“Panhandle Health District was kind enough to provide us with their mobile command vehicle and an operator, Dean Keck from PHD1 was a great help and kept the Command Post up and running and fresh coffee till the very end,” said Jackson.

“I was fortunate enough to get to play in the field and in the Command Center so I got to witness all levels of play,” said South Boundary Fire Chief Tony Rohrwasser. “A full scale exercise takes a lot of people to participate, many volunteers gave up a full day or two of pay at their jobs to participate in the event.”

This scenario brought all levels of response from local to State to Federal together.” We, the local responders got the opportunity to work closely with these agencies,” said Rohrwasser. “If a similar situation were ever to arise we already have a good working relationship and we know what each agency can bring to the table.”

All participants took their roles seriously, with no joking or laughter, from the firefighters to the hazmat crews in full gear, it felt like a real life event unfolding. Through the cold and sleep deprivation, the first responders pushed hard, never faltering.

In the Boundary County Sheriff’s Office, calls continued through dispatch, who repeated the word training several times with every call to keep the public from believing this was a real scenario.

“I felt like dispatch end went really well,” said 911 Administer Krystal Denton. “We wanted them to be as real life, real time frame, as any incident would be, so that is exactly how we played it.”

The Boundary Amateur Radio Club joined forces with the first responders, ready and willing to lend communications support. Although they were not utilized as much as they felt they could have been, their response and organization proved that they were ready if a real emergency arose and communications were to go down.

“The exercise proved to be a great learning experience and a test of skills for all those involved, and offered a chance for roles and responsibilities that rarely happen with our regular calls,” said Jackson. “These type of training are always fun, and bring to the table a list of challenges that we don’t often plan for, and it helps to refresh many of our perishable skills that can become vulnerable to complacency or lost over time.”

For Rohrwasser, this was the first time in more than 20 years of working in emergency services in Boundary County that he had seen such a positive outcome in an exercise, where almost every type of emergency responder agency was represented.

“Kudos to all of the people that worked hard to set this up and those that came to play,” said Rohrwasser. “Hopefully we can expand on this and get to bring everyone together next time. This was, in my mind, was a great stepping stone for us as we move ahead as a team.”

“A huge thank you goes out to the U.S. Customs Border Patrol for all the time and effort they put into assisting the 101st CST-WMD with putting this exercise together, our USCBP agents are a great group of guys and gals and this couldn’t have happened without them,” said Jackson. “I am very proud of all the agencies and people involved and proud to have worked alongside some great people.”

“A very long day with outstanding results from our first responders in the field, our Unified Command at the airport in the Panhandle Health Command Vehicle and our Emergency Operations Center manned by volunteers,” said Meier. “Thank you to all that volunteered and spent all their time proving we were capable and ready.”