RSS Feed
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Disaster drill at schools May 2 The Clarke County Emergency Management Agency will be conducting a Homeland Security exercise on Wednesday, May 2, beginning at 9 a.m. The exercise will simulate a train derailment with hazardous material being released at the railroad tracks on Gates Drive in Thomasville. This exercise will involve all three schools in Thomasville as well as apartments and residences around this intersection. "We hope an event such as this never happens," said Roy Waite, Clarke County EMA director. "We understand that we can not completely prevent this type of accident. Therefore, our planning and preparedness goals will be to reduce the effects." If this were a real event, citizens in the area would be required to "Shelter in Place". Shelter in place refers to the following guidelines: stay indoors, if you are outside - move inside immediately, move upstairs if possible, close all windows and doors, seal windows and doors with plastic sheeting and secure with duct tape, turn off all heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems. "This is a temporary solution," Waite said. "Once the hazardous material team determines it is safe to do so, we would begin advising to evacuate and would give the location of a nearby shelter." "The purpose of this exercise is to plan and prepare," Waite said. "We expect to find problems areas with our plans. We want to find those problem areas now, not after a real event." The EMA will be using its "Code Red" Emergency Notification System to notify residents of the simulated event. If you have not registered your phone number (home and/or cell) with the Emergency Notification System, please go to the Clarke County website and follow the link to "Code Red". www.clarkecountyal.com. The EMA will only notify those within the warning area (to be determined by the chemical) of this simulated emergency. Those outside the warning area should not receive a call from "Code Red". If you have caller ID, the number will show up as 999-911-9999. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
