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Lessons learned with active shooter exercise
ROACHDALE — As a mock exercise, Saturday’s active shooter scenario at North Putnam High School emphasized how first responders and school staff have to work together to mitigate such a crisis.
Effective communication between officials and agencies generally in each stage of a response, from engaging the assailant to tending to casualties to uniting families, was the broad takeaway. The nuances mattered as to how effective this was.
Local law enforcement was dispatched at about 8:30 a.m. for a shooter inside the building. While School Resource Officer James Collings was killed in a firefight with him, the shooter was found by two officers and neutralized within a matter of minutes of the dispatch.
Volunteer firefighters and personnel from Putnam County EMS and PMH Ambulance then arrived for triage. At least 25 people were found injured, with 15 of them eventually being transported. Two helicopters from Ascension St. Vincent StatFlight and Air Evac Lifeteam were staged near the entrance.
A report of an IED at about 9:05 a.m. led to the building being cleared as assessment and treatment was occurring. A rundown of patient care went out at 9:15 a.m. as reunification of students and staff with their families began at a separate location.
Later, North Putnam Supt. Nicole Allee reported at a briefing that 37 staff members and 455 students were accounted for as reunification was continuing, but emphasized that many students exited the scene of their own accord. Putnam County Chief Deputy Tom Sutherlin also relayed that a bomb squad was en route.
Meanwhile, law enforcement students from Area 30 Career Center took part in exercises for ALICE, which stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate. They acted in a scenario hiding from the assailant’s periphery, as well as one in which they were to pummel him.
Apart from the firefighters, medical and police personnel and school administrators, volunteers from Putnam County CERT also participated in the exercise.
First speaking during the “hotwash” as a leader for the exercise, North Putnam Operations Director Terry Tippin acknowledged that it was a truncated setup. An actual mass-casualty event such as this would be spread out over hours to possibly days.
For purposes of determining all the responders’ effectiveness, objectives were separated into different purviews being police, medical, reunification, ALICE, incident command and PIO. Each was overseen by a controller and an evaluator.
With effective communication being an overarching trend, Deputy Brian Helmer initially briefly noted a need to remove the wounded first from a scene, even as the IED was a threat. Tippin, in turn, said that while they were checking for them, firefighters were not told to evacuate those wounded.
“I think that communication, in a real-life deal, would be way more spread out than what it was today because we were so condensed,” Tippin said, however.
Putnam County EMS Chief Kelly Russ complimented Deputy Chief Anthony Taylor and Roachdale Town Marshal Adrian Lepine for their communications. She in turn brought up a kind of panic that went with the bomb report, as well as firefighters and EMS needing to get more immediate with triage.
“I noticed initially when they were coming to start moving patients out, there was no guidance on where to go,” District 7 EMS Director Stan Frank said to that with his evaluation.
With reunification, Roachdale Elementary Principal Beth Waterman said a change in the location caused disruption overall, while spoken radio communication had to be more limited. As the evaluator, Greencastle High School Asst. Principal Yolanda Goodpaster emphasized consistently tracking students and staff.
“If he didn’t see them at the reunification place, he was pulling bodies out, he did not see if somebody was gonna triage, now you’ve got a firefighter walking in there who’s not thinking straight,” Floyd Township Fire Chief Jeff Brooks added.
More onto the positive, Cloverdale High School Principal Sonny Stoltz commended the Area 30 students’ going through the two ALICE scenarios. Bainbridge Elementary Principal Brandon Wagler concurred as the evaluator that more training on ALICE can put greater focus on being proactive.
“There are many different scenarios, and we can’t train for all of them like you can if you’re with EMS or with fire or police,” Stoltz said. “There are many ways to engage a shooter to protect yourself, because you’re fighting for your life.”
As the incident command controller, Roachdale Fire Chief Mike Poole referenced the issues with triage and transport. However, he noted that with this being a new training for them, fire personnel did well under the circumstances.
“Communication is always one of the things that is huge in these types of incidents,” Deputy EMA Director Lisa Zeiner said as the incident command evaluator. She provided that police and EMS were effective with medical needs up-front, along with command being set up without verbal direction.
With her actually in the role of a public information officer, Cpl. Scott Ducker praised Allee working to be in contact with first responders and school staff. Brian Williams with the Putnam County Health Department, however, provided that splitting those responsibilities hindered communicating with media.
Lessons were ultimately learned with how to mitigate an active shooter emergency in the future. In the end, though, what mattered is that multiple agencies and actors came together to work on meeting such a threat that they hope never occurs.
“I hope today was a waste of your time because you never use it,” Sheriff Jerrod Baugh said for his part. “But if we ever do have an incident, I truly believe that we’ll get tenfold out of this like other places have.”
“I know that while this was play, I also know that you care about these kids and this community, and that’s why you’re here today,” North Putnam High School Principal Jason Chew summed up.