Multiple agencies in the Federal Way area tested their abilities to swiftly and effectively address a large-scale disaster.
The scenario: A 7.1-magnitude earthquake rocks the greater Federal Way area. The task: Identify ways to establish communication, assess the damage, care for the injured and prepare the city to operate on its own for a few days, maybe weeks.
The Feb. 24 drill was part of a larger effort to prepare for the Community Specific Integrated Emergency Management Course — FEMA training that takes place in August. Its intent was to test the flow of information and decision-making during a simulated emergency.
“That’s four and a half days of real intense scrutiny,” said Ray Gross, Federal Way emergency management coordinator. “The biggest thing is having an outside group thoroughly test our plan and our response (to an emergency).”
For the next five months, agencies that are part of the Greater Federal Way Emergency Management Program will prepare for the course. Agencies include the city, school district, Lakehaven Utility District, South King Fire and Rescue, American Red Cross and Puget Sound Energy.
“It’s a pretty prestigious thing,” Gross said.
Tuesday’s role-play split participants into four groups, each in colored vests identifying their parts in the enactment.
Volunteers interjected chaos that came in the form of mini-catastrophes: A fire at Decatur High School, landslide at South 288th Street, collapsed buildings, broken water lines, a vapor cloud downtown, a gas explosion, hundreds of fatalities and an uneasy crowd at St. Francis Hospital.
The situations were first introduced to a department operations center, which dealt with the emergencies using the resources that would be readily available to the agencies on a day-to-day basis. When the crew encountered a lack of resources to address the problem, it forwarded the issue to an emergency operations center.
These people made larger-scale decisions on priorities and the allocation of additional resources. When a situation became too complicated to tackle alone, they turned to a third body. This organization portrayed larger agencies — with more resources — such as the state, Puget Sound Energy and King County.
Together, participants figured out how they could stabilize Federal Way and care for the area’s residents.
“This is such a cooperative thing,” South King Fire and Rescue deputy chief Jerry Thorson said as he watched the event. “It’s cool.”
In an actual emergency, the participants will not all be in the same room. Establishing communication, managing resources, addressing injuries and setting priorities will need to happen without face-to-face interaction between the participants.
For this reason, paper forms were used to communicate among the groups. The forms represented whichever fashion of communication — phone, e-mail, in-person or other — may be available during an emergency. The exercise went well, but there is room for improvement, Gross said.
“If I were to give us a grade, I’d say a B-,” he said.
Participants will continue to work on improving their coordination, communication and response to a conceivable emergency.
