BROOKINGS – A lot of emergency vehicles will converge on GracePoint Wesleyan Church, 1420 Orchard Drive, about 6 p.m. today, but it’s all part of a mock drill, according to Brookings Police Chief Jeff Miller and Brookings Fire Chief Darrell Hartmann.
The critical incident and mass casualty exercise is scheduled to take until 10 p.m., but participants may be done before then, even with multiple run-throughs.
“The purpose is to better prepare our first responders in critical incidents,” Miller said. “This is not the real thing. It’s an exercise.”
“It’s just a preparation drill for all agencies that would be involved, if something like this would happen in the area,” Hartmann added.
The agencies expected to participate are Brookings Fire Department, Brookings County Sheriff’s Office, Brookings Police Department, University Police Department, South Dakota Highway Patrol and EMS crews. Additionally, there will be about 30 volunteers helping out and the ambulance will be transporting them to the hospital as part of the drill. Hartmann said the hospital would probably process those “victims” through the emergency room to monitor the flow of patient traffic.
“We do this annually with all groups,” Hartmann said. “Each group does its own training prior, but this is where we bring it all together and give it a test run on our first go and then we do a little more faster-paced second drill,” Hartmann explained.
Miller said drivers are advised to avoid the area.
