Local Law Enforcement, EMS Train for the Worst

Adams County first responders brought a strong presence to Meadows Valley School this past weekend for an active shooter “real world” training. Officers from Adams County Sheriff’s Office, Fish & Game, Payette National Forest Service, and Meadows Valley Fire & EMS attended the training on Friday, March 27 and Saturday March 28. Local students, staff, and community members volunteered to act as victims to make the simulated training more life-like.

School Resource Office Chris Carlisle, who splits his time between Council and Meadows Valley Schools, and Meadows Valley Fire Chief Doug Buys organized the training event. Carlisle and Buys thanked the civilians who came with Buys saying, “I can’t reiterate enough, thank you to these volunteers who took their time” to support the training with Carlisle adding, “We have some kids and adults here that have been really gracious to volunteer their time, please acknowledge and thank them for being here”.

Volunteer “victims” were moulaged with injuries to add to the scenario for the single first responder training as well as mixed Rescue Task Force groups of law enforcement officers and Fire/EMS members. Volunteer “Bad Guy” Curtis Clagg acted as the shooter. Before simulations began, volunteer Emily Peterson described the directions given to her saying they were told to scream and cry.

And that they did. Between the radio dispatch, screams and cries for help, fake blood, victims laying throughout the hallway, plus the bangs and rat-a-tat-tats of the shot box, a very convincing scene awaited each first responder.

Law Enforcement Officers started off outside the cafeteria doors and awaited the radio dispatch, “Any additional units available, report of shots fired at Meadows Valley School”. The LEOs confirmed back via radio, “Confirmed shots fired, I’ll be going in” providing a description of their location and were immediately met with screams, sounds of shots, and the aforementioned visual scenario. Carlisle had briefed everyone beforehand on the scenario and what to expect from their own physical responses. He emphasized the objective saying, “Your job is to get to the shooter as quickly as possible, remember that going through”.

To kick off the active training, Mark Sandberg gave introductions and reinforced expected safety protocol. Mark and his wife Kathy Sandberg run Defensive Tactics Trainings and assisted training throughout the course. Idaho State Police Trooper Andrew Fisher was also introduced. Both men were described as having long time SWAT experience.

Fisher followed and observed each solo officer, providing minimal non verbal coaching along the way if anything, and ending each run with a quick debrief of what the officer did well and where they could improve. Carlisle said the debrief was important noting, “You should expect everybody in here will make mistakes and fail today, this is where we want to fail” during the training so if this happens in real life, they will be successful in responding.

One admonishment Fisher gave in various ways was to be decisive in engaging the suspect, saying, “When you see him right here, you engage him and he runs …it’s your time.” He encouraged officers in the mindset needed to take on this type of scenario and take care of business. Fisher provided advice to “deal with the problems in order” noting what should be dealt with first to move toward greater safety and neutralize the threat.

Despite the gruesome scenes and terrifying sounds, everyone remained positive throughout the training. Volunteers asked if they felt based on the training if they would be pretty safe should something like this ever occur, said very positively, “Oh yeah”.

After a short break, Buys briefed the group on the next phase of training describing the Rescue Task Force diamond formation with officers in front and rear guard and two to four Rescuers in between. He said to Officers, “We’re working wherever you say it’s safe.” He described a couple triage situations and noted that some injuries will need time and said “It’ll be very tough to sit there with your gun, but that time is important. We have to treat that before we move” the victims.

The group debriefed together on the Task Force groups and what to improve. Crissy Gipe with Adams County Sheriff gave tips on how best to communicate with Dispatch in order to gain the best support.

Overall the training emphasized the necessity of unity between departments. Chief Buys said it this way, “Once you guys have stopped the killing, …Let us stop the dying and start the evacuation…I’d like each of you to intermingle, introduce yourselves. When things get real, if this happens, the better we do today, the better we do tomorrow.”