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GODFREY – Multiple area agencies have teamed up to coordinate and conduct a large-scale HazMat mass casualty exercise for first responders Friday, March 25, on the Lewis and Clark Community College Godfrey Campus. The scene at L&C was highly active on Friday morning with an abundance of first-responder personnel on hand.
L&C has held disaster exercises on campus before, but not at this scale, and not involving students, who will be volunteering and learning from the simulation.
The drill runs from 9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Friday, primarily in the area around the Hatheway Cultural Center.
At least a half a dozen first response and other local mutual aid companies from across the region will be participating and that includes Lewis and Clark Community College’s Incident Management Team, Nursing Program, and Campus Safety Department, along with the Godfrey Fire Protection District, Madison County Emergency Management Agency, Alton Memorial Hospital EMS, AVEC, and the Madison County Hazardous Materials Team.
L&C said local traffic should not be affected, and bystanders should not be alarmed to see activity on campus. Several L&C administrative personnel and campus security personnel were on hand to assist with the drill and prevent outside traffic.
The exercise simulates an accidental chemical spill that results in multiple injuries and will present other potential exposure concerns requiring multiple layers of interagency response in order to manage and contain it.
“It is a new learning experience for students who have never experienced a complex incident before, as it is managed – sort of like a disaster academy,” said Chris Sichra, Godfrey Public Safety Administrator and L&C Campus Emergency Management Consultant. “While emergency scenes may appear chaotic, in reality, everything is choreographed with the same goal in mind, to save lives and mitigate the crisis.”
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