Mock disaster drill provides unified training opportunity ...

Area first responders participated in a mock disaster drill in Harpers Ferry Saturday, April 9, giving law enforcement, fire and rescue, and emergency medical services personnel the opportunity to work together in a multi-faceted disaster experience that simulated a train derailment with motor vehicle involvement (as pictured above), including a school bus. A training device simulating a burning propane rail car (seen ablaze in the top left corner of the above photo) provided that additional risk to the drill, with fire crews working to extinguish that blaze and implement other hazardous materials training measures. Emergency medical services personnel also set up a triage area (pictured at left) to simulate multiple injuries of varying degrees, with many of the roles of the younger victims portrayed by area Scout troop members.

Along with Allamakee County Emergency Management and the Allamakee County Sheriff's Department, fire and rescue departments and emergency medical services from the communities of Waukon, Lansing, New Albin, Harpers Ferry and Waterville participated in the event. MedLink air ambulance from Gundersen Lutheran in La Crosse, WI also provided its services for the drill, and Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon, along with the nearest Wisconsin hospitals in Prairie du Chien and La Crosse, also followed through with training measures for the simulated disaster.

"This was very good training for everyone involved," Allamakee County Sheriff Clark Mellick said. "It gave us all a chance to work on a unified approach to such an incident and involved a variety of coordination on all levels of emergency response. We were able to utilize a mobile command center that allowed pretty much everything to be coordinated fairly smoothly on site." Photos courtesy of Lori Cahoon.