Northeast Indiana first responders train to respond to next disaster

HUNTINGTON, Ind. (Fort Wayne’s NBC) - First responders from across northeast Indiana gathered for training Tuesday morning to get ready for when disaster strikes.

More than 40 first responders came together all in an effort to deal with situations they don’t face everyday.

“Part of developing these types of training drills is to make them as realistic as we can,” Mike Miller with Be Prepared Inc. said. “Even though we sat in here, it was still realistic.”

This training was up close and personal with a scenario of how to respond if a tanker rolled over.

“It’s very important because I’ve had situations like this in the past,” Huntington County Emergency Management Director Robert Jeffers said. “By practicing and training, it helps us prepare. Part of emergency management is planning and preparedness.”

Miller put this training together. The planning had everything from the time, location, type of fuel in the tanker and even the weather.

“It’s not a typical car accident with a person injured, or a typical fire,” Miller said. “This is a long event that would run several hours and having them plan for something like this. They don’t get into all the time.”

While this training might come in handy, officials hope they never have to use it.

Officials say they hope to have them more often to better be ready for when a real emergency happens.

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