First Responder Training Exercise at High School on Sunday

On Sunday, March 12, Boundary County first responders will be conducting a training exercise at the Bonners Ferry High School from 8 a.m. until about 3 p.m. The training activity will involve simulated live gunfire, multiple emergency vehicles, and over 40 first responders, Boundary County Emergency Manager Andrew O'Neal wrote in a press release.

The public is asked to please avoid the area around the high school on Sunday, including the school parking lots and access roads, he wrote. The road behind the school that connects Alderson Lane with Tamarack Lane will be temporarily blocked for about seven hours on Sunday.

The exercise represents the final day of a three-day Active Threat Integrated Response Course that will train local law enforcement, emergency medical, and firefighting agencies in providing an integrated response to an active shooter threat. This course and exercise will train responders from 19 agencies from Boundary County and surrounding areas.

The goal of the course is to help emergency responders learn techniques to work together to save more lives, and includes medical training on wound care, stopping bleeding, and attending to gunshot wounds for victims who can be helped by immediate care.

The course was requested by the Boundary County Sheriff’s Office and is being coordinated by the Boundary County Office of Emergency Management in partnership with the Boundary County School District 101.

It is presented by an instructor team from Louisiana State University’s Academy of Counter-Terrorist Education, and is funded through the Idaho Office of Emergency Management and federal agencies.