Monday, September 20, 2004
By Lynn Moore
CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER
Muskegon Chronicle (Michigan)
Terrorists will strike a busload of students in the Whitehall area on
Tuesday, killing more than a half-dozen and sending dozens more to
hospitals.
It's not a crystal ball that allows such a disaster to be foreseen. It's all
in the plans -- disaster preparedness plans, that is.
The disaster won't be real, but it will look real, and the participants --
including students, emergency room personnel and firefighters -- will act as
if it's real.
The exercise, one that is becoming familiar in the post 9/11 era, is part of
attempts by emergency responders and Muskegon County school districts to
prepare for the worst.
The exercise, which will involve the aftermath of a supposed explosion on a
school bus at 9:30 a.m. at Durham and Holton-Whitehall roads in Whitehall
Township, is being funded by homeland security grants awarded to several
area school districts and Muskegon County.
Local school district transportation directors instigated the exercise
because they wanted to test their abilities to respond to emergencies, said
Tom Spoelman, transportation consultant for the Muskegon Area Intermediate
School District. They eventually hooked up with Muskegon County Emergency
Services, and planning for the event has been under way for about a year,
Spoelman said.
The exercise will test not only school transportation directors, but also
the Muskegon County Emergency Operations Plan, which involves many agencies
throughout the county.
About 60 middle and high school students from Reeths-Puffer and Whitehall
public schools will be part of the exercise, according to Kristin Tank,
public information coordinator for the MAISD. Local law enforcement
agencies, fire departments, human service agencies, transportation services
and medical services will participate.
Students from Muskegon Community College and Reeths-Puffer will assist in
applying makeup to add to the reality of the gruesome scene. Between 200 and
300 people will observe the exercise, including school bus drivers, school
administrators, emergency personnel and evaluators from agencies across the
state who will provide feedback.
****The exercise will simulate an attack by a fictitious radical group
called Wackos Against Schools and Education who believe everyone should be
homeschooled. Under the scenario, a bomb is placed on the bus and is
detonated while the bus is traveling on Durham, causing the bus to land on
its side and fill with smoke. *****
The exercise will begin with the bus -- an out-of-service vehicle donated by
Ravenna Public Schools -- on its side, having been placed there by Dale's 24
Hour Towing Service, which is donating its time and resources. Fire
departments will respond and test their abilities to get at victims inside a
mangled bus.
Hackley and Mercy General both will be able to test their new emergency
rooms, each of which will get between 15 and 20 "victims." Eight or nine
deceased students, represented by mannequins, will be transported to the
county morgue, Tank said.
Frantic parents will be part of the staged disaster, flocking to schools and
hospital emergency rooms.
The exercise is similar to an event staged a year ago at Heritage Landing
that involved a mock chemical disaster, which also was the supposed work of
terrorists and tested the county's emergency preparedness.
White Lake Fire Authority Chief Bob Phillips said his department is lucky to
be heavily involved in Tuesday's exercise by virtue of the location planners
chose.
"The potential exists (for a devastating incident) every day the school
buses are on the road," Phillips said. "It's not something that happens a
lot, but it's something we need to be trained in.
"That's what we're hoping for is to learn what works and what doesn't work
before an incident actually happens."
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Muskegon Chronicle (Michigan)
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