This past weekend select members of our Sheriff's Posse
were invited to and played a active role in a INTERNATIONAL
TERRORIST / WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION / HAZMAT /
EXERCISE on the Canadian Border. This was
a international multi agency
exercise with over 30 different agencies responding. Every
agency that you can imagine was represented and
played a part, all the way from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to
a very
elite
military Hazmat Bio / Chemical / Nuclear Control / Team. It took 15
million dollars to equip this specialized
squad.
(Let me tell you, this team and their equipment were, borrowing
a phrase used by my childrenWAY
COOL! )
The two teams of Posses ( Only two that
participated) were first notified at the briefing that we
would be doing a SAR
for several of the 100 or so victims. As the scenario
played out there were several terrorist generated disasters going
on simultaneously so law enforcement was spread
thin. Priority's changed as the Posse was called in to block
traffic on
a major road and set up a security perimeter on the up wind
side of a accident scene. The training accident scene was
a tanker truck filled with a
unknown chemical which ran into and derailed a passenger
train.
Our group feels privileged that we were invited to
participate in this type of exercise. It was a educational and
interesting
experience to say the least. I feel our participation helped
spread a favorable light on Mounted Teams in general and
showed our diversified abilities. I believe there are
similar exercises being planed for other parts of the US. If your
team
would want to be involved I would suggest that you
contact your Emergency Management Representative from your
County and express your wishes. Next I would
suggest that you try to attend a planning committee meeting and let
them
know in what ways your team could contribute to such a
exercise. I feel that with a little additional training and gear
MSAR
could be versatile for both SAR and disaster
response. If you look back at some previous post on this list by
Jorene,
she gave some very good ideas on different
ways MSAR can be useful in a disaster
situation. Last but not least ask
your county representative, in many cases there may be some
money available to cover your out of the pocket expenses.
I would strongly believe that if
the opportunity presents its self it could benefit all MSAR it you
participate.