Area rescue, law enforcement personnel join together for training situation

“Gloom, despair, and agony on me Deep, dark depression, excessive misery If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all…” Nobody could blame emergency responders in Wolf Lake had they been singing that classic Buck Owens and Roy Clark song on Tuesday night. After all, they had to contend with a tornado that caused a school bus accident, a towering propane tank fire, a chemical spill, campers that scattered into the woods and had to be found, a house fire, a lake rescue involving an air boat, and a medical helicopter evacuation, all in the space of about an hour. But nobody was singing the blues – they were all too busy doing their jobs during the annual Becker County disaster drill. “We’re the committee that set this up,” said Wolf Lake Fire Chief Dale Hillukka, gesturing to a dozen people from as many agencies standing near a mobile command post in Wolf Lake. “We knew everything that was supposed to happen, so it’s our turn to sit back and enjoy the chaos.” “We train so we learn what we’re doing wrong,” added Becker County Sheriff Todd Glander. “And that way we can do things better. We improve on our weaknesses.” The big drill involved multiple agencies, including the fire departments of Audubon, Callaway, Carsonville, Detroit Lakes, Elbow Lake, Frazee, Lake Park, Perham and Wolf Lake; EMS from North Memorial, St. Mary’s Essentia Health, Lake Park and Wolf Lake, as well as the Becker County Sheriff’s Horse Posse; along with police officers from Frazee and White Earth and Becker County deputies and dispatchers.
The Wolf Lake Fire Department hosted the drill. “It’s kind of a secret,” Hillukka said before the drill started at 6 p.m. “They (the emergency responders) don’t know how the whole scenario unfolds.” It was designed to be as realistic as possible, with fire pagers going off at 5 p.m. because “there’s a tornado watch in your area,” Hillukka said. At 5:50 p.m. pagers alerted emergency responders that “there’s a funnel cloud headed for Wolf Lake,” he said. “At 6 p.m., we have confirmed tornado strike on Wolf Lake,” he added. “The pages go out over 15-minute periods to different scenarios.” To save travel time, participating agencies gathered at various sites near Wolf Lake prior to the start of the drill. For the same reason, there were two sets of injured “patients,” one in Wolf Lake and one in Detroit Lakes, who were taken to Essentia Health St. Mary’s Hospital. “They (the hospital) need to be tested on their ability to handle a mass casualty event each year,” Hillukka said. Fire Instruction and Rescue Education, Inc. of Crosslake, which helps conduct training for fire departments, assisted in the event. The company brought specialized gear, such as the flaming propane tank, that helped create realistic scenarios, Hillukka said. “They have the equipment and the manpower to handle it,” he added. “It takes a lot of pressure off us.” [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1999233","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"325","title":"","width":"750"}}]] Departments that provide mutual aid to each other rarely get to train together, and the disaster drill allowed the fire departments and emergency agencies to train and work together with hazardous materials, said Becker County Emergency Manager Craig Fontaine. Real-life accidents have happened during these big training drills in the past, and the safety of participants is a top goal, Fontaine said. “The last two (disaster drills) we’ve had no injuries or incidents, and we’re working hard to keep it that way,” he said. Each station in the drill had safety officers in red vests looking for possible problems and empowered to call an immediate halt to the action if anything didn’t look right, said Dick Goodmanson, safety director for Becker County. There were also evaluators for each scenario that watched the emergency responders in action and provided feedback during a group debriefing after the drill. In the White Earth Police Department’s mobile command unit, responsibilities were split among agencies, with one person handling communication with firefighters, one with law enforcement, another with EMS personnel and so on, while also talking to each other. That’s the purpose of command and control, which was also evaluated during the drill. Jason Mickelson, a retired Wolf Lake firefighter of 20 years, watched the action from his pickup truck, and said disaster drills are helpful. “It’s all about working together, command and control,” he said. “When we had the Green Valley Fire a few years ago, the fire chief called (for help to) Fergus Falls all the way to Moorhead and Duluth. Almost half the state came to fight the fire, it was a once in a lifetime fire,” he said, and the large drills “definitely” helped firefighters prepare for that. Cory Ylitalo agreed. He is also a retired firefighter of 27 years who was watching a helicopter land across the highway from his home on Tuesday. “It shows what cooperation and teamwork can accomplish,” he said. “Situations like this are bigger than any one group can handle. It takes multiple groups working together to resolve the situation.” [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1999236","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"325","title":"","width":"750"}}]] Kendra Sikkila, who was watching all the activity with two young children, said “I think it’s pretty amazing. My kids (age 16 and 17) are involved in the bus accident. I just came to bring them some dry clothes.” The drill was the first big local test of the new ARMER digital radio system, and while the radios worked well, more training is needed to make sure everybody is comfortable with operating them,Glander said. In theory, the digital radio system allows different agencies to clearly communicate with each other, and allows emergency workers to go to different channels where firefighters can talk to firefighters, law enforcement can talk amongst themselves, and medical personnel can talk – while also talking to other departments, he said. During the Green Valley Fire, Glander added, old analog radios were used, and only one channel was available, which led to people from different agencies trying to communicate at the same time, and talking over each other. In the debriefing after the drill, it came out that there was some confusion about which channel the various agencies should be using, and even how to switch to that channel. It’s a simple thing to do, but it’s a radio option that is rarely used, so a lot of people couldn’t remember how to do it. “The Armer radios are a good tool,” Glander said, “a definite upgrade from what we used to have. But we as operators need more work with them.” He plans to suggest an inter-agency refresher course on the new radios. “Sometimes that’s all it takes is a little refresher,” he said. On the plus side, the debriefing showed that all the agencies worked well together during a very hectic situation, Glander said. Tweets by @DLNewspapers“Gloom, despair, and agony on me Deep, dark depression, excessive misery If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all…” Nobody could blame emergency responders in Wolf Lake had they been singing that classic Buck Owens and Roy Clark song on Tuesday night. After all, they had to contend with a tornado that caused a school bus accident, a towering propane tank fire, a chemical spill, campers that scattered into the woods and had to be found, a house fire, a lake rescue involving an air boat, and a medical helicopter evacuation, all in the space of about an hour. But nobody was singing the blues – they were all too busy doing their jobs during the annual Becker County disaster drill. “We’re the committee that set this up,” said Wolf Lake Fire Chief Dale Hillukka, gesturing to a dozen people from as many agencies standing near a mobile command post in Wolf Lake. “We knew everything that was supposed to happen, so it’s our turn to sit back and enjoy the chaos.” “We train so we learn what we’re doing wrong,” added Becker County Sheriff Todd Glander. “And that way we can do things better. We improve on our weaknesses.” The big drill involved multiple agencies, including the fire departments of Audubon, Callaway, Carsonville, Detroit Lakes, Elbow Lake, Frazee, Lake Park, Perham and Wolf Lake; EMS from North Memorial, St. Mary’s Essentia Health, Lake Park and Wolf Lake, as well as the Becker County Sheriff’s Horse Posse; along with police officers from Frazee and White Earth and Becker County deputies and dispatchers. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1999232","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"325","title":"","width":"750"}}]] The Wolf Lake Fire Department hosted the drill. “It’s kind of a secret,” Hillukka said before the drill started at 6 p.m. “They (the emergency responders) don’t know how the whole scenario unfolds.” It was designed to be as realistic as possible, with fire pagers going off at 5 p.m. because “there’s a tornado watch in your area,” Hillukka said. At 5:50 p.m. pagers alerted emergency responders that “there’s a funnel cloud headed for Wolf Lake,” he said. “At 6 p.m., we have confirmed tornado strike on Wolf Lake,” he added. “The pages go out over 15-minute periods to different scenarios.” To save travel time, participating agencies gathered at various sites near Wolf Lake prior to the start of the drill. For the same reason, there were two sets of injured “patients,” one in Wolf Lake and one in Detroit Lakes, who were taken to Essentia Health St. Mary’s Hospital. “They (the hospital) need to be tested on their ability to handle a mass casualty event each year,” Hillukka said. Fire Instruction and Rescue Education, Inc. of Crosslake, which helps conduct training for fire departments, assisted in the event. The company brought specialized gear, such as the flaming propane tank, that helped create realistic scenarios, Hillukka said. “They have the equipment and the manpower to handle it,” he added. “It takes a lot of pressure off us.”
Departments that provide mutual aid to each other rarely get to train together, and the disaster drill allowed the fire departments and emergency agencies to train and work together with hazardous materials, said Becker County Emergency Manager Craig Fontaine. Real-life accidents have happened during these big training drills in the past, and the safety of participants is a top goal, Fontaine said. “The last two (disaster drills) we’ve had no injuries or incidents, and we’re working hard to keep it that way,” he said. Each station in the drill had safety officers in red vests looking for possible problems and empowered to call an immediate halt to the action if anything didn’t look right, said Dick Goodmanson, safety director for Becker County. There were also evaluators for each scenario that watched the emergency responders in action and provided feedback during a group debriefing after the drill. In the White Earth Police Department’s mobile command unit, responsibilities were split among agencies, with one person handling communication with firefighters, one with law enforcement, another with EMS personnel and so on, while also talking to each other. That’s the purpose of command and control, which was also evaluated during the drill. Jason Mickelson, a retired Wolf Lake firefighter of 20 years, watched the action from his pickup truck, and said disaster drills are helpful. “It’s all about working together, command and control,” he said. “When we had the Green Valley Fire a few years ago, the fire chief called (for help to) Fergus Falls all the way to Moorhead and Duluth. Almost half the state came to fight the fire, it was a once in a lifetime fire,” he said, and the large drills “definitely” helped firefighters prepare for that. Cory Ylitalo agreed. He is also a retired firefighter of 27 years who was watching a helicopter land across the highway from his home on Tuesday. “It shows what cooperation and teamwork can accomplish,” he said. “Situations like this are bigger than any one group can handle. It takes multiple groups working together to resolve the situation.” [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1999236","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"325","title":"","width":"750"}}]] Kendra Sikkila, who was watching all the activity with two young children, said “I think it’s pretty amazing. My kids (age 16 and 17) are involved in the bus accident. I just came to bring them some dry clothes.” The drill was the first big local test of the new ARMER digital radio system, and while the radios worked well, more training is needed to make sure everybody is comfortable with operating them,Glander said. In theory, the digital radio system allows different agencies to clearly communicate with each other, and allows emergency workers to go to different channels where firefighters can talk to firefighters, law enforcement can talk amongst themselves, and medical personnel can talk – while also talking to other departments, he said. During the Green Valley Fire, Glander added, old analog radios were used, and only one channel was available, which led to people from different agencies trying to communicate at the same time, and talking over each other. In the debriefing after the drill, it came out that there was some confusion about which channel the various agencies should be using, and even how to switch to that channel. It’s a simple thing to do, but it’s a radio option that is rarely used, so a lot of people couldn’t remember how to do it. “The Armer radios are a good tool,” Glander said, “a definite upgrade from what we used to have. But we as operators need more work with them.” He plans to suggest an inter-agency refresher course on the new radios. “Sometimes that’s all it takes is a little refresher,” he said. On the plus side, the debriefing showed that all the agencies worked well together during a very hectic situation, Glander said. Tweets by @DLNewspapers“Gloom, despair, and agony on me Deep, dark depression, excessive misery If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all…” Nobody could blame emergency responders in Wolf Lake had they been singing that classic Buck Owens and Roy Clark song on Tuesday night. After all, they had to contend with a tornado that caused a school bus accident, a towering propane tank fire, a chemical spill, campers that scattered into the woods and had to be found, a house fire, a lake rescue involving an air boat, and a medical helicopter evacuation, all in the space of about an hour. But nobody was singing the blues – they were all too busy doing their jobs during the annual Becker County disaster drill. “We’re the committee that set this up,” said Wolf Lake Fire Chief Dale Hillukka, gesturing to a dozen people from as many agencies standing near a mobile command post in Wolf Lake. “We knew everything that was supposed to happen, so it’s our turn to sit back and enjoy the chaos.” “We train so we learn what we’re doing wrong,” added Becker County Sheriff Todd Glander. “And that way we can do things better. We improve on our weaknesses.” The big drill involved multiple agencies, including the fire departments of Audubon, Callaway, Carsonville, Detroit Lakes, Elbow Lake, Frazee, Lake Park, Perham and Wolf Lake; EMS from North Memorial, St. Mary’s Essentia Health, Lake Park and Wolf Lake, as well as the Becker County Sheriff’s Horse Posse; along with police officers from Frazee and White Earth and Becker County deputies and dispatchers. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1999232","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"325","title":"","width":"750"}}]] The Wolf Lake Fire Department hosted the drill. “It’s kind of a secret,” Hillukka said before the drill started at 6 p.m. “They (the emergency responders) don’t know how the whole scenario unfolds.” It was designed to be as realistic as possible, with fire pagers going off at 5 p.m. because “there’s a tornado watch in your area,” Hillukka said. At 5:50 p.m. pagers alerted emergency responders that “there’s a funnel cloud headed for Wolf Lake,” he said. “At 6 p.m., we have confirmed tornado strike on Wolf Lake,” he added. “The pages go out over 15-minute periods to different scenarios.” To save travel time, participating agencies gathered at various sites near Wolf Lake prior to the start of the drill. For the same reason, there were two sets of injured “patients,” one in Wolf Lake and one in Detroit Lakes, who were taken to Essentia Health St. Mary’s Hospital. “They (the hospital) need to be tested on their ability to handle a mass casualty event each year,” Hillukka said. Fire Instruction and Rescue Education, Inc. of Crosslake, which helps conduct training for fire departments, assisted in the event. The company brought specialized gear, such as the flaming propane tank, that helped create realistic scenarios, Hillukka said. “They have the equipment and the manpower to handle it,” he added. “It takes a lot of pressure off us.” [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1999233","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"325","title":"","width":"750"}}]] Departments that provide mutual aid to each other rarely get to train together, and the disaster drill allowed the fire departments and emergency agencies to train and work together with hazardous materials, said Becker County Emergency Manager Craig Fontaine. Real-life accidents have happened during these big training drills in the past, and the safety of participants is a top goal, Fontaine said. “The last two (disaster drills) we’ve had no injuries or incidents, and we’re working hard to keep it that way,” he said. Each station in the drill had safety officers in red vests looking for possible problems and empowered to call an immediate halt to the action if anything didn’t look right, said Dick Goodmanson, safety director for Becker County. There were also evaluators for each scenario that watched the emergency responders in action and provided feedback during a group debriefing after the drill. In the White Earth Police Department’s mobile command unit, responsibilities were split among agencies, with one person handling communication with firefighters, one with law enforcement, another with EMS personnel and so on, while also talking to each other. That’s the purpose of command and control, which was also evaluated during the drill. Jason Mickelson, a retired Wolf Lake firefighter of 20 years, watched the action from his pickup truck, and said disaster drills are helpful. “It’s all about working together, command and control,” he said. “When we had the Green Valley Fire a few years ago, the fire chief called (for help to) Fergus Falls all the way to Moorhead and Duluth. Almost half the state came to fight the fire, it was a once in a lifetime fire,” he said, and the large drills “definitely” helped firefighters prepare for that. Cory Ylitalo agreed. He is also a retired firefighter of 27 years who was watching a helicopter land across the highway from his home on Tuesday. “It shows what cooperation and teamwork can accomplish,” he said. “Situations like this are bigger than any one group can handle. It takes multiple groups working together to resolve the situation.”
Kendra Sikkila, who was watching all the activity with two young children, said “I think it’s pretty amazing. My kids (age 16 and 17) are involved in the bus accident. I just came to bring them some dry clothes.” The drill was the first big local test of the new ARMER digital radio system, and while the radios worked well, more training is needed to make sure everybody is comfortable with operating them,Glander said. In theory, the digital radio system allows different agencies to clearly communicate with each other, and allows emergency workers to go to different channels where firefighters can talk to firefighters, law enforcement can talk amongst themselves, and medical personnel can talk – while also talking to other departments, he said. During the Green Valley Fire, Glander added, old analog radios were used, and only one channel was available, which led to people from different agencies trying to communicate at the same time, and talking over each other. In the debriefing after the drill, it came out that there was some confusion about which channel the various agencies should be using, and even how to switch to that channel. It’s a simple thing to do, but it’s a radio option that is rarely used, so a lot of people couldn’t remember how to do it. “The Armer radios are a good tool,” Glander said, “a definite upgrade from what we used to have. But we as operators need more work with them.” He plans to suggest an inter-agency refresher course on the new radios. “Sometimes that’s all it takes is a little refresher,” he said. On the plus side, the debriefing showed that all the agencies worked well together during a very hectic situation, Glander said. Tweets by @DLNewspapers“Gloom, despair, and agony on meDeep, dark depression, excessive miseryIf it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all…”Nobody could blame emergency responders in Wolf Lake had they been singing that classic Buck Owens and Roy Clark song on Tuesday night.After all, they had to contend with a tornado that caused a school bus accident, a towering propane tank fire, a chemical spill, campers that scattered into the woods and had to be found, a house fire, a lake rescue involving an air boat, and a medical helicopter evacuation, all in the space of about an hour.But nobody was singing the blues – they were all too busy doing their jobs during the annual Becker County disaster drill.“We’re the committee that set this up,” said Wolf Lake Fire Chief Dale Hillukka, gesturing to a dozen people from as many agencies standing near a mobile command post in Wolf Lake. “We knew everything that was supposed to happen, so it’s our turn to sit back and enjoy the chaos.”“We train so we learn what we’re doing wrong,” added Becker County Sheriff Todd Glander. “And that way we can do things better. We improve on our weaknesses.”The big drill involved multiple agencies, including the fire departments of Audubon, Callaway, Carsonville, Detroit Lakes, Elbow Lake, Frazee, Lake Park, Perham and Wolf Lake; EMS from North Memorial, St. Mary’s Essentia Health, Lake Park and Wolf Lake, as well as the Becker County Sheriff’s Horse Posse; along with police officers from Frazee and White Earth and Becker County deputies and dispatchers.
The Wolf Lake Fire Department hosted the drill.“It’s kind of a secret,” Hillukka said before the drill started at 6 p.m. “They (the emergency responders) don’t know how the whole scenario unfolds.”It was designed to be as realistic as possible, with fire pagers going off at 5 p.m. because “there’s a tornado watch in your area,” Hillukka said.At 5:50 p.m. pagers alerted emergency responders that “there’s a funnel cloud headed for Wolf Lake,” he said. “At 6 p.m., we have confirmed tornado strike on Wolf Lake,” he added. “The pages go out over 15-minute periods to different scenarios.”To save travel time, participating agencies gathered at various sites near Wolf Lake prior to the start of the drill.For the same reason, there were two sets of injured “patients,” one in Wolf Lake and one in Detroit Lakes, who were taken to Essentia Health St. Mary’s Hospital.“They (the hospital) need to be tested on their ability to handle a mass casualty event each year,” Hillukka said.Fire Instruction and Rescue Education, Inc. of Crosslake, which helps conduct training for fire departments, assisted in the event. The company brought specialized gear, such as the flaming propane tank, that helped create realistic scenarios, Hillukka said.“They have the equipment and the manpower to handle it,” he added. “It takes a lot of pressure off us.”[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1999233","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"325","title":"","width":"750"}}]]Departments that provide mutual aid to each other rarely get to train together, and the disaster drill allowed the fire departments and emergency agencies to train and work together with hazardous materials, said Becker County Emergency Manager Craig Fontaine.Real-life accidents have happened during these big training drills in the past, and the safety of participants is a top goal, Fontaine said.“The last two (disaster drills) we’ve had no injuries or incidents, and we’re working hard to keep it that way,” he said.Each station in the drill had safety officers in red vests looking for possible problems and empowered to call an immediate halt to the action if anything didn’t look right, said Dick Goodmanson, safety director for Becker County.There were also evaluators for each scenario that watched the emergency responders in action and provided feedback during a group debriefing after the drill.In the White Earth Police Department’s mobile command unit, responsibilities were split among agencies, with one person handling communication with firefighters, one with law enforcement, another with EMS personnel and so on, while also talking to each other.That’s the purpose of command and control, which was also evaluated during the drill.Jason Mickelson, a retired Wolf Lake firefighter of 20 years, watched the action from his pickup truck, and said disaster drills are helpful.“It’s all about working together, command and control,” he said. “When we had the Green Valley Fire a few years ago, the fire chief called (for help to) Fergus Falls all the way to Moorhead and Duluth. Almost half the state came to fight the fire, it was a once in a lifetime fire,” he said, and the large drills “definitely” helped firefighters prepare for that.Cory Ylitalo agreed. He is also a retired firefighter of 27 years who was watching a helicopter land across the highway from his home on Tuesday.“It shows what cooperation and teamwork can accomplish,” he said. “Situations like this are bigger than any one group can handle. It takes multiple groups working together to resolve the situation.”[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1999236","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"325","title":"","width":"750"}}]]Kendra Sikkila, who was watching all the activity with two young children, said “I think it’s pretty amazing. My kids (age 16 and 17) are involved in the bus accident. I just came to bring them some dry clothes.”The drill was the first big local test of the new ARMER digital radio system, and while the radios worked well, more training is needed to make sure everybody is comfortable with operating them,Glander said.In theory, the digital radio system allows different agencies to clearly communicate with each other, and allows emergency workers to go to different channels where firefighters can talk to firefighters, law enforcement can talk amongst themselves, and medical personnel can talk – while also talking to other departments, he said.During the Green Valley Fire, Glander added, old analog radios were used, and only one channel was available, which led to people from different agencies trying to communicate at the same time, and talking over each other.In the debriefing after the drill, it came out that there was some confusion about which channel the various agencies should be using, and even how to switch to that channel. It’s a simple thing to do, but it’s a radio option that is rarely used, so a lot of people couldn’t remember how to do it.“The Armer radios are a good tool,” Glander said, “a definite upgrade from what we used to have. But we as operators need more work with them.”He plans to suggest an inter-agency refresher course on the new radios. “Sometimes that’s all it takes is a little refresher,” he said.On the plus side, the debriefing showed that all the agencies worked well together during a very hectic situation, Glander said.Tweets by @DLNewspapers“Gloom, despair, and agony on meDeep, dark depression, excessive miseryIf it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all…”Nobody could blame emergency responders in Wolf Lake had they been singing that classic Buck Owens and Roy Clark song on Tuesday night.After all, they had to contend with a tornado that caused a school bus accident, a towering propane tank fire, a chemical spill, campers that scattered into the woods and had to be found, a house fire, a lake rescue involving an air boat, and a medical helicopter evacuation, all in the space of about an hour.But nobody was singing the blues – they were all too busy doing their jobs during the annual Becker County disaster drill.“We’re the committee that set this up,” said Wolf Lake Fire Chief Dale Hillukka, gesturing to a dozen people from as many agencies standing near a mobile command post in Wolf Lake. “We knew everything that was supposed to happen, so it’s our turn to sit back and enjoy the chaos.”“We train so we learn what we’re doing wrong,” added Becker County Sheriff Todd Glander. “And that way we can do things better. We improve on our weaknesses.”The big drill involved multiple agencies, including the fire departments of Audubon, Callaway, Carsonville, Detroit Lakes, Elbow Lake, Frazee, Lake Park, Perham and Wolf Lake; EMS from North Memorial, St. Mary’s Essentia Health, Lake Park and Wolf Lake, as well as the Becker County Sheriff’s Horse Posse; along with police officers from Frazee and White Earth and Becker County deputies and dispatchers.[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1999232","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"325","title":"","width":"750"}}]]The Wolf Lake Fire Department hosted the drill.“It’s kind of a secret,” Hillukka said before the drill started at 6 p.m. “They (the emergency responders) don’t know how the whole scenario unfolds.”It was designed to be as realistic as possible, with fire pagers going off at 5 p.m. because “there’s a tornado watch in your area,” Hillukka said.At 5:50 p.m. pagers alerted emergency responders that “there’s a funnel cloud headed for Wolf Lake,” he said. “At 6 p.m., we have confirmed tornado strike on Wolf Lake,” he added. “The pages go out over 15-minute periods to different scenarios.”To save travel time, participating agencies gathered at various sites near Wolf Lake prior to the start of the drill.For the same reason, there were two sets of injured “patients,” one in Wolf Lake and one in Detroit Lakes, who were taken to Essentia Health St. Mary’s Hospital.“They (the hospital) need to be tested on their ability to handle a mass casualty event each year,” Hillukka said.Fire Instruction and Rescue Education, Inc. of Crosslake, which helps conduct training for fire departments, assisted in the event. The company brought specialized gear, such as the flaming propane tank, that helped create realistic scenarios, Hillukka said.“They have the equipment and the manpower to handle it,” he added. “It takes a lot of pressure off us.”
Departments that provide mutual aid to each other rarely get to train together, and the disaster drill allowed the fire departments and emergency agencies to train and work together with hazardous materials, said Becker County Emergency Manager Craig Fontaine.Real-life accidents have happened during these big training drills in the past, and the safety of participants is a top goal, Fontaine said.“The last two (disaster drills) we’ve had no injuries or incidents, and we’re working hard to keep it that way,” he said.Each station in the drill had safety officers in red vests looking for possible problems and empowered to call an immediate halt to the action if anything didn’t look right, said Dick Goodmanson, safety director for Becker County.There were also evaluators for each scenario that watched the emergency responders in action and provided feedback during a group debriefing after the drill.In the White Earth Police Department’s mobile command unit, responsibilities were split among agencies, with one person handling communication with firefighters, one with law enforcement, another with EMS personnel and so on, while also talking to each other.That’s the purpose of command and control, which was also evaluated during the drill.Jason Mickelson, a retired Wolf Lake firefighter of 20 years, watched the action from his pickup truck, and said disaster drills are helpful.“It’s all about working together, command and control,” he said. “When we had the Green Valley Fire a few years ago, the fire chief called (for help to) Fergus Falls all the way to Moorhead and Duluth. Almost half the state came to fight the fire, it was a once in a lifetime fire,” he said, and the large drills “definitely” helped firefighters prepare for that.Cory Ylitalo agreed. He is also a retired firefighter of 27 years who was watching a helicopter land across the highway from his home on Tuesday.“It shows what cooperation and teamwork can accomplish,” he said. “Situations like this are bigger than any one group can handle. It takes multiple groups working together to resolve the situation.”[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1999236","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"325","title":"","width":"750"}}]]Kendra Sikkila, who was watching all the activity with two young children, said “I think it’s pretty amazing. My kids (age 16 and 17) are involved in the bus accident. I just came to bring them some dry clothes.”The drill was the first big local test of the new ARMER digital radio system, and while the radios worked well, more training is needed to make sure everybody is comfortable with operating them,Glander said.In theory, the digital radio system allows different agencies to clearly communicate with each other, and allows emergency workers to go to different channels where firefighters can talk to firefighters, law enforcement can talk amongst themselves, and medical personnel can talk – while also talking to other departments, he said.During the Green Valley Fire, Glander added, old analog radios were used, and only one channel was available, which led to people from different agencies trying to communicate at the same time, and talking over each other.In the debriefing after the drill, it came out that there was some confusion about which channel the various agencies should be using, and even how to switch to that channel. It’s a simple thing to do, but it’s a radio option that is rarely used, so a lot of people couldn’t remember how to do it.“The Armer radios are a good tool,” Glander said, “a definite upgrade from what we used to have. But we as operators need more work with them.”He plans to suggest an inter-agency refresher course on the new radios. “Sometimes that’s all it takes is a little refresher,” he said.On the plus side, the debriefing showed that all the agencies worked well together during a very hectic situation, Glander said.Tweets by @DLNewspapers“Gloom, despair, and agony on meDeep, dark depression, excessive miseryIf it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all…”Nobody could blame emergency responders in Wolf Lake had they been singing that classic Buck Owens and Roy Clark song on Tuesday night.After all, they had to contend with a tornado that caused a school bus accident, a towering propane tank fire, a chemical spill, campers that scattered into the woods and had to be found, a house fire, a lake rescue involving an air boat, and a medical helicopter evacuation, all in the space of about an hour.But nobody was singing the blues – they were all too busy doing their jobs during the annual Becker County disaster drill.“We’re the committee that set this up,” said Wolf Lake Fire Chief Dale Hillukka, gesturing to a dozen people from as many agencies standing near a mobile command post in Wolf Lake. “We knew everything that was supposed to happen, so it’s our turn to sit back and enjoy the chaos.”“We train so we learn what we’re doing wrong,” added Becker County Sheriff Todd Glander. “And that way we can do things better. We improve on our weaknesses.”The big drill involved multiple agencies, including the fire departments of Audubon, Callaway, Carsonville, Detroit Lakes, Elbow Lake, Frazee, Lake Park, Perham and Wolf Lake; EMS from North Memorial, St. Mary’s Essentia Health, Lake Park and Wolf Lake, as well as the Becker County Sheriff’s Horse Posse; along with police officers from Frazee and White Earth and Becker County deputies and dispatchers.[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1999232","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"325","title":"","width":"750"}}]]The Wolf Lake Fire Department hosted the drill.“It’s kind of a secret,” Hillukka said before the drill started at 6 p.m. “They (the emergency responders) don’t know how the whole scenario unfolds.”It was designed to be as realistic as possible, with fire pagers going off at 5 p.m. because “there’s a tornado watch in your area,” Hillukka said.At 5:50 p.m. pagers alerted emergency responders that “there’s a funnel cloud headed for Wolf Lake,” he said. “At 6 p.m., we have confirmed tornado strike on Wolf Lake,” he added. “The pages go out over 15-minute periods to different scenarios.”To save travel time, participating agencies gathered at various sites near Wolf Lake prior to the start of the drill.For the same reason, there were two sets of injured “patients,” one in Wolf Lake and one in Detroit Lakes, who were taken to Essentia Health St. Mary’s Hospital.“They (the hospital) need to be tested on their ability to handle a mass casualty event each year,” Hillukka said.Fire Instruction and Rescue Education, Inc. of Crosslake, which helps conduct training for fire departments, assisted in the event. The company brought specialized gear, such as the flaming propane tank, that helped create realistic scenarios, Hillukka said.“They have the equipment and the manpower to handle it,” he added. “It takes a lot of pressure off us.”[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1999233","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"325","title":"","width":"750"}}]]Departments that provide mutual aid to each other rarely get to train together, and the disaster drill allowed the fire departments and emergency agencies to train and work together with hazardous materials, said Becker County Emergency Manager Craig Fontaine.Real-life accidents have happened during these big training drills in the past, and the safety of participants is a top goal, Fontaine said.“The last two (disaster drills) we’ve had no injuries or incidents, and we’re working hard to keep it that way,” he said.Each station in the drill had safety officers in red vests looking for possible problems and empowered to call an immediate halt to the action if anything didn’t look right, said Dick Goodmanson, safety director for Becker County.There were also evaluators for each scenario that watched the emergency responders in action and provided feedback during a group debriefing after the drill.In the White Earth Police Department’s mobile command unit, responsibilities were split among agencies, with one person handling communication with firefighters, one with law enforcement, another with EMS personnel and so on, while also talking to each other.That’s the purpose of command and control, which was also evaluated during the drill.Jason Mickelson, a retired Wolf Lake firefighter of 20 years, watched the action from his pickup truck, and said disaster drills are helpful.“It’s all about working together, command and control,” he said. “When we had the Green Valley Fire a few years ago, the fire chief called (for help to) Fergus Falls all the way to Moorhead and Duluth. Almost half the state came to fight the fire, it was a once in a lifetime fire,” he said, and the large drills “definitely” helped firefighters prepare for that.Cory Ylitalo agreed. He is also a retired firefighter of 27 years who was watching a helicopter land across the highway from his home on Tuesday.“It shows what cooperation and teamwork can accomplish,” he said. “Situations like this are bigger than any one group can handle. It takes multiple groups working together to resolve the situation.”
Kendra Sikkila, who was watching all the activity with two young children, said “I think it’s pretty amazing. My kids (age 16 and 17) are involved in the bus accident. I just came to bring them some dry clothes.”The drill was the first big local test of the new ARMER digital radio system, and while the radios worked well, more training is needed to make sure everybody is comfortable with operating them,Glander said.In theory, the digital radio system allows different agencies to clearly communicate with each other, and allows emergency workers to go to different channels where firefighters can talk to firefighters, law enforcement can talk amongst themselves, and medical personnel can talk – while also talking to other departments, he said.During the Green Valley Fire, Glander added, old analog radios were used, and only one channel was available, which led to people from different agencies trying to communicate at the same time, and talking over each other.In the debriefing after the drill, it came out that there was some confusion about which channel the various agencies should be using, and even how to switch to that channel. It’s a simple thing to do, but it’s a radio option that is rarely used, so a lot of people couldn’t remember how to do it.“The Armer radios are a good tool,” Glander said, “a definite upgrade from what we used to have. But we as operators need more work with them.”He plans to suggest an inter-agency refresher course on the new radios. “Sometimes that’s all it takes is a little refresher,” he said.On the plus side, the debriefing showed that all the agencies worked well together during a very hectic situation, Glander said.Tweets by @DLNewspapers