Barber County first responders do simulation training

BARBER COUNTY, Kan. (KSNW)— First responders in Barber County held a training exercise on Friday with a school bus and truck carrying hazardous materials.

The victims? Actors. The smoke? Non-toxic.

“Our goal was to see how our protocols, whether we were EMS, fire, law enforcement, work and handle a mass casualty like this,” Anna Schurter, the director of Barber County EMS, said.

Mike Loreg, the Barber County Emergency manager, said it was important to get on-the-job training rather than just working in a classroom.

“In a classroom or training facility, you study books,” Loreg said. “It’s easy to write policy on a piece of paper, but when we come out here and test them, we find the gaps.”

Most of the emergency services in rural Barber County are largely volunteer, so the simulation training offers an opportunity to work calls they don’t normally get.

“We have the same problems, the same hazardous materials the big cities do,” Loreg said. “If we don’t practice these, there’s a lot of people that can get injured because we don’t have the resources everybody else does.”

Now, after a successful exercise, it’s back to the drawing board.

“There’s going to be some things we’re going to look at after this exercise and try to tighten up,” Barber County Sheriff Jason LeClair said. “Try to make a better team for the community, and hopefully we can get that taken care of today.”

Local first responders said a tight response to the worst-case scenario is paramount.

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