2 days ago
Woodbury County performs active threat exercise in preparation for an active shooter
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — Woodbury County conducted a full-scale active threat exercise in preparation for an active shooter incident. The official name for the exercise is Operation Blue Eagle,
'So, the biggest goal of this exercise was to ensure that Woodbury County and surrounding organizations are prepared for this type of incident. We want to do everything we possibly can to serve and protect our citizens,' said Michael Montino with Woodbury County Emergency Management.
Multiple agencies teamed up to practice what to do in a high-stakes situation.
'What we attempted to do today is empower our first responders,' said Montino. 'Give them the knowledge, the tools, and most importantly, with exercises, the experience to be able to handle an incident like this.'
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And when in a dangerous situation, teamwork is essential in a crisis.
'We've done scenarios like this within our agencies, Sioux City would do theirs. Woodbury County would do ours. It was time for us to do it together in an incident like this, everybody's coming, and we need to train together to save lives,' said Sgt. Chris Jansen with with Woodbury County Sheriff's Office.
These training drills are crucial to prevent any potential mistakes.
'These are different situations, different circumstances that help us really capture all of our skills, and put them into action,' said Lt. John Nelsen with the Sioux City Fire and Rescue. 'And we all have some weaknesses, but we build on those weaknesses. That's why we do multiple scenarios.'
When Siouxland Christian School was offered to be a part of this scenario, they immediately jumped at the opportunity.
'You know, we've done a lot of planning. We always do. You're never done planning. And this is just another piece of that,' said Nic Scandrett, the superintendent for Siouxland Christian School. 'When you get to see it in a live scenario like this, it really changes everything. Your perspective changes. And that's the biggest thing we learned today.'
Even though the drills were at a school, Montino says this works for all locations.
'So even though the scenarios may be slightly different, the concepts are in many ways the same. And again, we did multiple scenarios today, which allowed our first responders to get a chance to practice, maybe some of those different situations,' Montino said.
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