March 19, 2024

Several agencies partner for active-shooter drill at Berg

ALICE, other training to be put to the test

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If you are anywhere near Newton’s Berg School Complex on March 18, you might see some uncommon sights.

In what officials are calling one of the largest and most unique emergency drills ever staged by Jasper County agencies, an active shooter and mass casualty drill will take place March 18 at the Berg elementary and middle-school complex in Newton.

From shortly before noon until about 4 p.m., medical, fire and law enforcement will converge on the complex for a drill scenario that involves at least one active shooter on the campus. March 18 is the Wednesday of the Newton Community School District’s spring break.

“Of course, we hope nothing like this ever happens here,” said Lt. Rob Burdess, who is coordinating much of the Newton Police Department’s side of planning the large drill. “But we’d rather be over-prepared. We’re required to have drills like these, but this is the first one we’ve done, in the 16 years I’ve been here, that involves this much movement and this many agencies.”

The drill will include Newton Police, the school district, the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office, Jasper County Emergency Management, the Jasper County Public Health District, the Newton Fire Department, Skiff Medical Center and emergency radio dispatchers. Burdess said an air-ambulance service, such as Life Flight, might also be involved, if possible.

“One main objective is to test how well all these groups work together,” Burdess said. “This is about collaboration, and what works well, and what needs to get better, and will test the technical skills of each department. It’s not a pass-fail test. It’s to see how far our training has brought us so far.”

Burdess said there have been numerous similar drills, such as ones at Newton High School, and every school has fire drills. A 2010 Colfax High School drill involved EMS responders and a bus-crash scenario.

Burdess anticipates personnel will probably block off Fourth and Fifth Avenues East in front of the school, and East 19th Street North will be heavily used to bring vehicles in and out, but there shouldn’t be a large number of streets closed.

Patrol of a perimeter and “gatekeeper” exit and entry will be part of the drill, but all participants will be wearing orange vests or other identifying gear. There will be about 100 volunteer “casualties,” which will include Newton school faculty, who must be safely moved to an on-site triage treatment area, and eventually, out of the secured campus area.

Burdess said knowledge about the details of the scenario will be limited to a very few people, in order to keep responders reacting to surprises. In fact, Burdess, who is coordinating NPD’s S.W.A.T. response in the drill, isn’t even privy to details like how many shooters there will be, or what type of complications will be thrown into the mix.

“There are some things we won’t replicate,” he said. “For example, we won’t be trying to move hundreds of students in this drill, and there’s some equipment you won’t see, for safety reasons. But we are training for reality, as much as we can.”

Burdess said there are historical trends to school incidents, such as lunchtime or early morning timing, and the general short duration of an actual active shooter, as most endings, however horrid, tend to unfold quickly.

The March 18 drill will feature some elements seen in many school incidents, but also some “what if” twists and turns that local responders might not have heard or read about before.

“One good thing about the noon to 4 p.m. window is we hope to get some folks out here who normally don’t work during that shift,” Burdess said. “And an afternoon start allows us to call things off if there’s simply too much going on for one or more agency early in the day.”

Burdess said the afternoon also tends to be a busier time for dispatchers and office personnel, so this will be a tough test for them as well. He said he hopes anyone who follows emergency radio scanners catches announcements made early in the scenario by dispatchers about the drill nature of what’s happening at the Berg Complex.

The Wednesday plan also gives the participants two extra weekdays in spring break to re-schedule the drill if anything major comes up. Burdess said one of the many challenges will be radio communication. Police will have to ditch their usual “10-code system” during the drill.

“One of our focuses here is for us all to use plain language, so everyone knows what we’re saying,” Burdess said.

Jasper County Emergency Management Coordinator Jim Sparks will create a detailed report about the drill, including how well procedures were followed, and what additional training might be needed. Some grant programs mandate such reports, Burdess said.

School personnel will have the opportunity to test ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) training. Lessons learned in the scenario could be useful far beyond the limited scope of first-shooter responses, Burdess said.

“Some parts of this drill carry over to situations like natural disasters,” he said. “We never know what will all face at school, on the street, or in the cooperate world.”

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com