Lincoln County Emergency Management Agency Deputy Director Ken Desmond recently completed training at “the only federally-chartered Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) training facility in the nation,” according to a press release.
The Center for Domestic Preparedness, in Anniston, Ala., “offers more than 50 training courses focusing on incident management, mass casualty response, and emergency response to a catastrophic natural disaster or terrorist act,” according to the press release.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) operates the center and the federal government foots the bill for the training.
Desmond also participated in courses at the center’s Chemical, Ordnance, Biological and Radiological Training Facility (COBRA), “the nation’s only facility featuring civilian training exercises in a true toxic environment using chemical agents.”
“Some of the best training in the nation is right there,” LCEMA Director Tim Pellerin said.
Desmond will pass on his knowledge to other agency employees. “I hope we never have to” respond to a disaster on the scale of the training, Pellerin said, but “we’re very well prepared.”
“The best training we can get to stay on top of it is critical,” Pellerin said.
In other agency news, a second sign language class for first responders is set for Tues., Aug. 9, Pellerin said. Nineteen responders attended the first class, which Pellerin described as a success.
The classes teach responders “very basic signs to communicate with the deaf in case of an emergency,” Pellerin said.
