Local Police, Fire & Hospital Agents Prepare for What if Moment

Twice in recent days, officials at the Channahon Police Department have worked to coordinator Active Shooter/Rapid Response Training Exercises.

And at the conclusion of each exercise, police and fire officials sat down to talk with school staff and everyone came to one conclusion.

“Police, fire and school staff discussed the exerice(s) and stressed the importance of training on a regular basis, especially training with multiple agencies that may respond to a large-scale critical incident,” Channahon police chief Jeff Wold said.

Wold said Channahon Sgt. Steve Weiss took a leadership role in setting up the two training sessions—one on May 31 and the other on June 11. Both were conducted at Minooka Community High School’s south campus in Channahon.

Four police agencies and two fire protection districts trained with more than 100 student volunteers. Staff members from Morris Hospital replicated gunshot wounds on 15 volunteers each day.

“Both days of the training exercise were very similar, with approximately half of each department training on each day,” Wold said. “The training started at 7 a.m. with the Illinois State Police Special Response Team providing instruction to members of the Channahon Police Department, Minooka Police Department and the Grundy County Sheriff’s Office.”

Wold said hospital representatives arrived at 10 a.m. each day and “made up” students with various gunshot wounds.

“Then, at noon, the Channahon and Minooka Fire Protection Districts arrived and the exercise—with three different scenarios—repeated until 3 p.m.,” Wold said.

Local officials and school staff members were on hand to observe.