Over the past week, Port Huron emergency agencies have participated in active shooter training at St. Clair Community, and they faced two very long days.
With the agencies ranging from police and fire departments to EMS and hospital staff across the Port Huron area, the eight-hour training they completed on Tuesday, August 9, and Thursday, August 11, took participants through classroom and technique checks in the morning, finishing with several drills to simulate a school shooting crisis. The training allows for police to practice neutralizing a threat and securing the scene, and for firefighters and EMS to practice getting victims out of the building and into waiting ambulances, where staff at area hospitals are ready for their practice in handling large casualty scenario.
The training is made possible by an almost $28,000 grant awarded to the Port Huron Police Department by the Office of Community Policing Services (COPS for short), as the grant aims to help enhance school security. Participating agencies include the Port Huron Police and Fire Departments, Tri-Hospital EMS, Central Dispatch Authority, SC4 Security Personnel, the St. Clair County Homeland Security & Emergency Management, McLaren Port Huron Hospital, and Lake Huron Medical Center, with some surrounding local fire departments joining.
Due to the training, those traveling near SC4 in Port Huron will have seen a large number of emergency vehicles on and around campus those two days.
