By RHEA-FRANCES TETLEY
Staff Writer
The San Bernardino County Fire Department, the Running Springs Fire Agency and Cal Fire recently worked through a joint, mass-shooting emergency drill. During that time, they practiced coordinating what their responses would be if a situation occurs where this unified effort becomes necessary.
These agencies often practice together to unify their communication efforts. They do use and have used joint command in emergency situations over the years. They have been commended in the past on their ability to work together and their coordination skills in tough situations.
This drill scenario had a shooter come in to the camp clubhouse office and “shoot” several employees. The sheriff was called and the responding agencies rushed to save the victims and take control of the situation. This scenario included four to five walking wounded, waiting for the sheriff to arrive. When they did arrive, they ran in and got the suspect down.
While the sheriff was inside dealing with the suspect, the firefighters were focused on the victims of the shooting, moving them to safety, away from the crime scene, to the safety of ambulances. They did a triage on each of them to determine their level of injuries. After assessment, they determined which victim got transported first and by what methods of evacuation – ambulance or, if needed, a helicopter.
Over in the command center at the back of an SUV, the three fire agency commanders tracked resources and all aspects of the incident. They can use tablets to communicate with their central control vehicles. The situational awareness they must possess to get all aspects of the situation and coordinate the incident command takes years of practice; this drill keeps them sharp and ready. They discuss the resources and who to dispatch where, with a mapping of locations and resources, and track the transportation of the victims and the treatment each requires.
Some of the victims during the drill were Valerie Caudill, who suffered a fake gunshot wound, and Michael Schilhad, whose hand was “shot.” Both are from the Alpine Camp staff who participated in the drill. Schilhad said afterwards, “I feel safer here after participating in this drill. I appreciate the emergency teams and their hard work and see this training in a very positive and educational way.”
Assistant Fire Chief Jason Serrano and Capt. Spenser Braumbaugh were working the command center. “The crew did a great job and learned and worked together,” they said.
“This is great preparation for the worst. We forced than to step out of the box and they did fantastic together,” added Serrano. “Our department is ready to react to escalated threats.”
Eric Hoffstedler said, “No egos here, and they did better than good. This training for things we don’t want or expect to happen will keep us ready for the unexpected.”
“As assistant chief,” Serrano said, “I am proud of the leadership of our battalion chiefs as they are displaying how they are communicating, and the importance of professional judgement and development and response readiness. I am proud of all the crews for their engagement and active participation in continuing educations and professional development today and every day. I think performing this type of training with cooperating agencies on the mountain is critical to the relationship building and collaboration in incident management. We love to develop this relationship between the agencies. We all have the same goal: to protect the community, as well as to save the lives of our members.”
While this practice drill took place, other County Fire engines were brought up from the valley to cover the stations in case a call occurred, meaning there were more firefighters on the mountain than usual that day.
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