City partners with County, others to host full-scale emergency exercise Saturday
The City of Colorado Springs' Office of Emergency Management (OEM) has partnered with El Paso County and 35 other local, state and federal agencies to test the region's response to a fire along the City?s western edge this Saturday. The "Up in Smoke" exercise features scenario elements to challenge fire response, neighborhood evacuation, shelter establishment, mass casualty treatment and public information dissemination.
The El Paso County Office of Emergency Management, the Pikes Peak Chapter of the American Red Cross, and the Medical Reserve Corps of El Paso County will be establishing a mass care shelter. The primary goal is to test the ability to care for people with disabilities as well as people with chronic but stable medical conditions at the shelter. The County?s Animal Response Team will be co-locating a pet shelter at the Red Cross Shelter to test their ability to care for companion animals. The location for the mass care portion of the exercise is the Calvary Chapel Eastside at 5070 Edison Ave in Colorado Springs.
Costs for the exercise are paid for by a grant from federal grant funds.
"All these partner agencies spend a great deal of time planning about how to respond during emergencies, but we believe we must execute and continue to work together in realistic conditions in order to be really prepared," explained Bret Waters, City OEM manager. "These sorts of exercises allow us to learn from our errors when lives are not on the line." Residents, motorists and passersby may see a concentration of police or fire activity in Southwest Colorado Springs for much of Saturday as personnel respond to changing scenarios associated with the exercise.
