Taking on the 'What if'

In the conference room of the Cottonwood on Oct. 1, an unlikely group met to test their response and capabilities against a hypothetical disaster in Valley County. Consisting of Glasgow and Long Run firefighters, sheriff deputies, elected and county officials, utility workers, nursing and assisted living professionals and hospital executives, the group was challenged by the Montana Disaster and Emergency Services’ Jeff Gates and the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Glasgow’s Patrick Gilchrist to take on a fast moving wildfire just northwest of Glasgow burning under severe fire conditions.

In an attempt to save time and not tax the volunteer firefighting force any more than they already are, the “tabletop exercise” was held in the evening and condensed from six hours to two – although it ran over by an hour making it a three-hour test of the county’s emergency response. In brief, the basics of the scenario was: A fire is sparked in drought and windy conditions in the early afternoon and spreads to a few hundred acres rapidly; firefighters dispatch to the scene and begin fighting the fire but it continues growing until it reaches a few thousand acres and threatens the airport and the northern edge of town.

The almost unbelievable scenario is intentional according to Gilchrist, who helped write and implement the scenario, as in many cases the fire would be extinguished quickly. However for the exercise to truly test the vast amount of participants it needed to rise to the level of a disaster. The hospital’s trauma response, the elderly care centers’ ability to lock down their HVAC systems to protect against smoke inhalation and the county’s ability to communicate with the public and the world during the disaster were all key aspects of the event.

Another element of the exercise was testing the communication between different groups. During the exercise firefighters were able to learn about the various capabilities of other entities like the airport, the Montana Department of Natural Resource Conservation, the various utilities and the support available from the state. When it was all said and done, the main point was to make sure people understood their roles, how to communicate and what the other participants’ capabilities were in the event of this disaster.

Long Run Fire Chief Sara Bryan thought the exercise went well and added to their understanding of the capabilities in Valley County. “It was a great turnout,”she said. “It was good to have all the different entities as well.” Bryan admitted it was a lot to pack into a three-hour exercise, but thought the training was good for those involved. “There’s a lot that goes into a massive fire, so this could have easily been an eight-hour exercise.”

Gates finished up the exercise saying, “I had a ton of questions for you, you answered all of them so you did great.”

The exercise originated with Gilchrist, who sits on the Local Emergency Planning Committee which prepares for hypotheticals such as this one and consists of members like elected officials, law enforcement, the weather service and the like. LEPCs, as they are referred to, are actually federally mandated local government organizations under the public's right to know. Gilchrist dreamed up the exercise, presented it to the LEPC, worked with Frances Mahon Deaconess Hospital Chief Safety Officer Dirk Monson and then Valley County DES supervisor Rick Seiler reached out to Gates to make the exercise a reality. Another key element was that the training fulfills the firefighters regular training, the hospital’s mandatory emergency training scenario and the LEPCs duties to test preparedness.

The key for Gilchrist was familiarity and response. “In the event of an actual emergency,” said Gilchrist, “then each responding group would be aware of the others’ capabilities.” Gilchrist has been on the LEPC for some time and has experienced a number of disasters and training exercises and feels that the county has strengthened their ability to react to such scenarios. “From my perspective,” said Gilchrist, “it looks like things are moving in the right direction as people recognize their roles and how to work together.”