TOWN OF RUSSELL, New York (WWNY) – Emergency officials and teachers are learning how to respond during an active shooter situation. Drills are being held this week at Edwards-Knox Central School as part of a four-day training session.
St. Lawrence County Sheriff Brooks Bigwarfe said the training is critical.
“You can watch all the videos, you can read all the articles, you can watch the PowerPoints, but until you actually do the hands-on mock drill, you don’t really know how you’re going to react, and obviously we to give them the skill and education for them to react appropriately and apply those skills in St. Lawrence,” he said.
The training is being held by the sheriff’s office.
Officials say the most important thing that the public should know is to keep away from a building that has an active shooter present in it.
“There’s obviously risk to the personnel and there’s also a risk to the public and the people involved in this situation,” said Mark Davers, Gouverneur Rescue director.
The drill helps train professionals and volunteers on how to work together when responding to this sort of emergency.
Teacher Mike Gault watched first-hand how people from all over the county worked toward one common goal.
“The coordination process is pretty phenomenal with the state police and the border patrol, and the EMS now coming in and being a part of this drill. I think that gives me a huge level of security that these guys really are training for this and they are prepared for it,” he said.
“This biggest thing to take away from this is the collaboration, the working together between local law enforcement and fire and ems. It’s a great partnership between all the agencies. We train for the real event. We train to make less mistakes and have more knowledge during the event, so if the real thing were to take place, everyone here would be trained and through it,” said Matt Denner, St. Lawrence County EMS director.
The training continues Thursday.
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