Disaster Scenarios on CD-Rom

[NJFFSA16]

KINGWOOD, W.Va. (AP) - An interactive CD-ROM packed with 11
disaster scenarios for communities of every size will be fine-tuned
at Camp Dawson in the coming weeks, then tested in Utah and
California later this fall.
By the end of the year, a training package will be in the hands
of 3,000 county officials nationwide. The lessons they learn could
save the lives of both civilians and first responders.
"Who knows where terrorists are going to hit next? Every
community in America needs to be able to respond," said Maj. Gen.
Allen Tackett, commander of the West Virginia National Guard and a
member of the senior review panel for the Automated Exercise and
Assessment System.
The scenarios include the detonation of a conventional high
explosive, a smallpox attack in a rural town, the release of Sarin
gas, even nuclear weapons. Each is programmed to unfold hundreds of
ways, depending on what action a player takes. Along the way, first
responders deal with problems such as the inability to communicate,
deaths of their own and the lack of immediate backup.
The communities "range from large cities to very small
communities with one sheriff, two deputies and one community
hospital," said Lt. Gen. Herb Temple, former head of the National
Guard Bureau and another member of the review panel. "Those people
are not immune."
Small communities may benefit most, he said.
West Virginia firefighters, police, EMTs and emergency
management coordinators are testing the system this week at the
National Guard's new Regional Training Institute at Camp Dawson.
The $5 million project has been four years in the making, first
conceptualized by Dan Donohue, special assistant to the chief of
the National Guard Bureau.
Developed by Science Applications International Corp. of McLean,
Va., it will be tested this fall in Weber County, Utah, and Ventura
County, Calif., then distributed to thousands of communities at no
charge.
The average police department in the United States has only a
handful of officers; 70 percent of fire departments are volunteer,
Donohue said. And many first responders wear several hats: A
volunteer firefighter might also be a police officer, but he or she
can be counted as a resource only once.
Running the scenarios with their mutual-aid partners forces
first responders to look critically at their capabilities and
limitations, then learn from the mistakes they make in the virtual
world.
The CD-ROM also aims to standardize an individual's response to
the same situation, Donohue said. Every firefighter, for example,
knows how to put on an air pack; the difference is when they do it.
It's impossible to say whether the CD-ROM training might have
helped save lives in New York City on Sept. 11, Donohue said. The
first responders there were already among the best trained in the
world.
"Were mistakes made? Sure. But were they controllable? That's a
different question," he said. "Is it something the exercise could
have changed? Only God knows. But it might have helped, sure."
If nothing else, it might have saved police and firefighters.
"The question isn't whether we had heroes," Donohue said.
"It's whether we were too heroic."
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On the Net:
National Guard Bureau: http://www.ngb.dtic.mil/

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press

[RyanEMVFD]

FEMA has some scenarios out on CD that are pretty good but last i checked they were out of them. But i can't wait till this comes out to see if it's any good.

umm wonder if that general is any relation to me......