Hazmat training exercise draws praise for united effort

The Holmes County Emergency Management Agency and the Holmes County Local Emergency Planning Committee hosted a full-scale hazardous materials exercise Saturday, April 18 at Centor in Berlin, and the many entities that participated in the mock disaster operation left with high praise from both the state EMA office and fellow EMA directors from surrounding counties who graded the effort.

“Exercises like this are critical to ensuring our responders are prepared to handle real-world hazardous materials incidents safely and effectively,” said Jason Troyer, Holmes County EMA director. “I thought this went very well. As always, I’m appreciative of this county coming together. Holmes County is a special place, and everyone worked well to make sure this event came together.”

Participating local groups who served as instrumental responders to the mock situation included East Holmes Fire & EMS, Holmes Fire District #1, Paint Township Fire Department, Pomerene Hospital and Holmes County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch Center.

The event was done in cooperation with Bad Day Training, which led the experience.

The morning began with an unexpected occurrence when Paint Township was called on an actual emergency, forcing the exercise to begin later than anticipated. Another unique circumstance took place when the first responders rolled into Centor in the wrong place, forcing the fire crew to work their way to the back of the building on foot.

Troyer said situations like this are good because in real emergencies things don’t always go as planned.

“Sometimes we are forced to adapt and deal with situations that arise in the fire and EMS world,” Troyer said. “Sometimes it’s better when it doesn’t go as planned because it makes you think outside the box and react, which is what we want with these exercises.”

The purpose of the event was to have officials come in and address Holmes County’s policies and procedures under the stress of a full-scale mock event, something that is required by the State of Ohio.

Troyer said after watching the day play out, he knows the participating teams did well in many areas but said the goal of the mock disaster is to learn from mistakes, something the evaluators found few and far between during the run.

“What we need to hear coming out of these exercises isn’t the praise but the truth,” Troyer said. “We need to hear what we need to hear, not what we want to hear, because that makes us better as departments and as a collective community of responders.”

The morning began with visiting EMA directors who serve as the evaluators gathered in one room while the participating members gathered in the main meeting area of East Holmes Fire & EMS to discuss the scenario of what was going to play out.

The scenario was first identified by dispatch as a fire near the rear of Centor that included a forklift explosion and a missing person. What responders weren’t told was there was a second incident that resulted from the fire alarm, that being a chemical spill of an unidentified liquid substance marked hazardous on the other side of the building.

While fire fighters responded to the initial incident, the hazmat team was called in to deal with the second scenario.

Both teams including the EMTs and personnel from Pomerene Hospital responded well throughout the exercise.

Nick Zamiska of Bad Day Training took charge in leading the participants through the scenario and spoke afterward about the results he saw.

“What an impressive turnout,” Zamiska said. “This is probably the most members I’ve had show up for an event like this.”

In addition to the evaluators, Michelle Sowers and Noah Porter of Ohio Emergency Management Agency were both in attendance to evaluate and report and were pleased with everything they saw take place from all involved.

“I’m always so impressed when I come to Holmes County,” Sowers said. “Your response to incidents is always thorough and well planned out and you work well together.”

One of the day’s highest moments of praise came courtesy of the Holmes County Sheriff’s Office dispatch team, which was congratulated on its ability to clearly and directly disperse pertinent information concerning the circumstances to all parties.

“I think they are the ones that tie everything together, and they play a critical role in any incident,” Troyer said. “Without good communication it can go south pretty quickly, and our dispatchers did a tremendous job.”

Pomerene Hospital also received high praise for the communication skills that took place in setting up the quarantine tent and receiving victims outside the hospital.

Troyer and Bad Day expressed their gratitude to all the volunteer EMA directors who served as evaluators and Centor for volunteering to host the event on-site, something they reiterated was great value to the authenticity of the event.

John Schlabach, East Holmes fire chief, said this event gives the county the ability to practice.

“We try to do something we don’t do every day,” Schlabach said of the exercise. “We got a great turnout, and we did well, and no emergency scene is ever perfect, so the hope is that we gained some valuable insight today in terms of training.”

Sowers said the next step in the process from a state perspective is to take the gathered information from the evaluators and she will create an action report to share with the LEPC and EMA, which can then share the information with every local entity.

Once accomplished, Holmes County will receive its state credit that will allow it to receive state funding.