TEMPLE, Texas — Temple Police, fire, EMS and other agencies participated in the second day of an active threat training session on Wednesday, July 17, to prepare response for what's called a "mass casualty event."
In the training, all agencies were briefed on the event that they would be responding to at Temple Charter School. Multiple actors laid inside, pretending to be wounded as a result of a would-be shooting at the school.
The response began with Temple Police entering the building, and "neutralizing the threat" by taking out the shooter before altering Temple Fire that it was safe the extract the victims for them to be loaded up by EMS and taken to the hospital to be "treated for their wounds."
"It just overall prepares us for a mass casualty incident if one should unfortunately occur," Santos Soto, public information officer for the Temple Fire Department, said.
Soto adding that each agency from law enforcement, to fire, to EMS and the dispatch center who took the original "call" play a critical role in saving lives.
The agencies then met in the fire department for break out sessions on how the training was conducted.
"When we start talking about the trainings we can then realize that there might be room to work on things and that's something that we start hammering home," Soto said.
Ensuring a swift and safe execution takes the help of the dispatch center and fleet management for the departments.
Cathy Lanham, Waco-Temple EMS clinical education specialist said "safety" is the number one priority.
"We want to maintain the safety for our trucks so that we can transport patients, the next priority is to make sure that we don't overwhelm any nearby facilities or far away facilities," Lanham said.
Lanham said these trainings are about identifying pitfalls and being able to fix any bumps in the road when it comes to a response to such mass casualty incidents.
"We can figure out those shortcomings so that when they do come up, when there's a tragic incident we're able to address that quickly and more smoothly because we've already practiced it here," Lanham said.
Another training will take place on Thursday, July 18, at the same location for another group of police, fire and EMS.