Operation Smoky Hill

Category: Travel
Author: SalinaAirport
Published (on YouTube): 2010-10-06
Published (here): 2012-02-09
Rating: 5.0; Votes:1

Views: 863; Favorites: 2

Description:
Exercise tests local, state and federal disaster response Nearly 300 local, state and federal first responders, including National Guard units from Kansas and Nebraska are joining forces for an eight-day exercise in Salina July 11-18. Operation Smoky Hill takes place at Crisis City at the Great Plains Joint Training Center, 5100 S. Englund Road; the Saline County Emergency Operations Center, 255 N. 10th; and the Kansas Highway Patrol Training Academy, 2025 E. Iron Ave., testing civilian and government response to a domestic terrorism scenario. "This exercise is designed to test how well we coordinate our response efforts to a large-scale event," said Joe Koch, director of Saline County Emergency Management. "We'll have city, county, state and federal agencies all working through this scenario together. Having Crisis City right here in Salina is an added bonus for us." The training portion of the event started with a planning session on July 12, which involved state, federal and Saline County agencies. Today, personnel and equipment were deployed to Crisis City and the KHP Training Academy to work through simulated terrorist attacks in realistic training venues. Crisis City is a multiuse training facility operated by the Kansas Division of Emergency Management, a division of the Kansas Adjutant General's Department. It is located at the Great Plains Joint Training Center eight miles southwest of Salina. "Crisis City is the place to come for hands-on, real-world training for law enforcement, fire, search and rescue, EMS—just about any type of first responders you can think of," said Frank Coots, Crisis City manager. "There are very few places like this in the entire nation. Use of the facility is free to any Kansas first response organization and the central location in Salina makes it accessible from anywhere in the state." "Crisis City was built after extensive conversations with first responders across the state," said Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, director of the Kansas Division of Emergency Management and the adjutant general. "We asked 'What kind of training facilities do you need? What would benefit you the most?' Based on that input, we designed Crisis City to be the premier training facility in the Midwest for emergency responders." The exercise scenario involves requesting support from Nebraska by the afternoon of July 13. This initiates actions for one of the primary goals of this exercise, which is to provide certification training and national validation for the Nebraska National Guard's new Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and High-Yield Explosive Enhanced Response Force Package. The CERF-P, made up of 180-200 Guardsmen, assists first responders with casualty search and extraction, decontamination and medical triage in the event of a terrorist attack. The CERF-P, although located in Nebraska, is a resource that could be called on to assist officials in Kansas, Iowa and Missouri, as well. "The state's training capabilities here in Salina have the potential to become a great national asset for military and civilian personnel," said Brig. Gen. Norman Steen, commander of the Great Plains Joint Training Center. "We're pleased that the Nebraska CERF-P team could come here for their certification and we hope they are the first of many such teams to use our facilities." Brig. Gen. Roma Amundson, Nebraska assistant adjutant general - Army, will visit on July 14 to watch the CERF-P response. Nebraska Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy; Brig. Gen. Judd Lyons, Nebraska adjutant general; Col. Scott Gronewold, Nebraska National Guard Joint Forces Headquarters operations director; and Col. Michael Navrkal, commander of the Nebraska National Guard's 92nd Troop Command, will visit on July 18 to observe the CERF-P exercise evaluation. Other agencies that are participating in Operation Smoky Hill include the Kansas National Guard, Kansas Division of Emergency Management, Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Kansas Highway Patrol, Kansas Regional Search and Rescue Team, Kansas Civil Air Patrol, Major Emergency Response Group, Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Saline County Emergency Management, Saline County Sheriff's Department, Salina Police Department, Salina Fire Department, Salina-Saline County Health Department, Salina Regional Health Center, Salina Surgical Hospital and the American Red Cross, as well as representatives from the FBI and Secret Service. Student volunteers from Brown-Mackie College in Salina and members of the Kansas Wing of the Civil Air Patrol are also participating, playing the roles of incident victims and their family members. "We couldn't do this exercise without the tremendous support and participation from local agencies and businesses," said Koch. "Their involvement in the exercise is very much appreciated and makes us better prepared for when a disaster hits."

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