A host of local law enforcement agencies, fire districts, other government agencies and schools are preparing for the unthinkable.
Greywolf Elementary School in Carlsborg is the site of an “Active Shooter Mass Casualty Training Drill,” a four-hour-long exercise set for 12:30-4:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 26.
The event is closed to the public and school operations will be closed during the training.
More information about the drill will be posted on the websites and Facebook pages of the Sequim School District, Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, Olympic Medical Center and other participating agencies.
The drill will involve role players portraying casualties and witnesses and will give first responders, school and hospital personnel hands-on training and experience should a real mass casualty event occur, according to the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office.
Local law enforcement and fire/EMS personnel have been conducting Active Shooter Mass Casualty Response training together and within their departments. The drill will utilize a successful interagency protocol that is being used around the nation, sheriff’s office officials said.
There will be a number of various emergency vehicles and personnel at the school and also at Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles. There also will be a significant number of law enforcement, fire/and emergency services personnel involved in the exercise.
In addition to Greywolf Elementary School, other Sequim school offices — Helen Haller Elementary, Sequim Middle School, Sequim High School, Olympic Peninsula Academy and the District Office — will be in modified lockdown during the drill and will be closed, district officials said.
Multiple emergency vehicles will be on site and there may be temporary road closures during the drill, so motorists may want to avoid the area because of traffic congestion.
The Clallam County Road Department will have a designated detour in front of the school on Carlsborg Road, which will include manned traffic control. The Washington Department of Transportation will have signs posted and travel advisories on U.S. Highway 101 in the area. Access to the school property perimeter will be restricted and secured for safety purposes.
“We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause folks; however, the safety of our students and staff is the district’s top priority,” Sequim schools superintendent Gary Neal said.
“Taking part in this drill gives us an important opportunity to become better prepared for emergencies,” he said.
The training drill is a product of an Interagency Group that includes: law enforcement instructors, fire personnel and medics from local fire districts, school district staffers, Peninsula College, Olympic Medical Center, Red Cross, Clallam County Emergency Services, Olympic Ambulance, Clallam Transit, Forks Community Hospital/Ambulance, the Clallam County Road Department and the Washington State Department of Transportation.
Law enforcement agencies involved in the Interagency Group include: Sequim Police Department, Port Angeles Police Department, La Push Tribal Police Department, Neah Bay Public Safety, U.S. Border Patrol, Elwha Tribal Police Department, Washington State Patrol, Olympic National Park and the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office.
The Interagency Group, led by the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, has been meeting and working on organizing and facilitating the training drill since January of this year.
After the drill, there will be an after-action meeting scheduled to review what worked and what didn’t, which will be integrated into the planning for future drills or response to an actual event.
The drill will be in accordance with a statewide mandate for all schools to conduct mass casualty drills in response to events that have occurred around the world and the United States.
