Published: October 13, 2008 11:00 pm         

Disaster exercise set this weekend

Staff reports



Blaine, Custer and Kingfisher counties’ officials will test response and recovery capabilities with state and federal officials Friday and Saturday during a disaster exercise.

The training event will begin Friday evening in Okeene and end Saturday afternoon in Kingfisher. Emergency managers, firefighters, law enforcement and emergency medical officials are among those who will be confronted by a host of simulated terrorist events as they work toward improved disaster preparedness.

The exercise is designed to test the emergency response capability throughout the three-county region as well as coordination between all government levels and the private sector. Communications interoperability and mutual aid synchronization will be stressed as participants respond to and recover from mock weapons of mass destruction incidents involving a grain elevator explosion, railroad crash and other events.

“We hope such emergencies never occur in our region, but the practice we will gain from this exercise will help us be better prepared for any future disaster,” said Kingfisher/ Kingfisher County Emergency Manager Steve Loftis, whose department is overseeing the exercise.

Those slated to participate in the exercise include Custer County and Kingfisher County task forces, which include fire departments from Okeene, Loyal, Okarche, Kingfisher, Cashion, Big Four, Hitchcock and Weatherford. Local emergency management departments representing Kingfisher/ Kingfisher County, Woodward/ Woodward County, Canadian, Blaine, Caddo, Oklahoma, Texas, Pottawatomie and Custer counties and the Town of Arapaho; the Cheyenne-Arapaho tribe, Okeene Police Department, Okeene Emer-gency Medical Services, Air Evac Life Team of Woodward, Oklahoma State Department of Health, Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management and the Oklahoma National Guard Civil Support Team.

Volunteers will also participate in the exercise as mock disaster victims.

The exercise is funded in part through the Oklahoma Office of Homeland Security.