Volunteers respond to soggy simulation

By Elizabeth Perry
Tuesday, March 31, 2009 5:15 AM CDT


Saturday morning was rainy and cold, but volunteers still gathered in O'Fallon Sports Park to play victims in a simulated plane crash.


They were part of a Community Emergency Response Team, or CERT, exercise. CERT volunteers have checked on people whose utilities went out during an ice storm and have sandbagged during floods.

During this exercise, CERT volunteers were to locate and safely move victims and give basic first aid. CERT volunteers also were learning to contain a disaster scene, so people didn't wander in and disrupt lifesaving care.

Volunteer Karen Conner-Hatcher applied gory makeup to the "victims." She is not a professional makeup artist, but it is a high compliment to say her work looked ghastly.

Conner-Hatcher said the more realistic the makeup, the easier it is for CERT members to get into the event.

T.J. Miles, 11, of O'Fallon had a puckered slash on his face.

"I like wearing the makeup. It's fun," Miles said. "Some of the people here are really messed up.

"Miles mentioned a girl with sugar glass sticking out of her forehead. The girl, Hannah Puckett, 11, is a Central Elementary student whose mom is a CERT volunteer.

Puckett had posed as a victim for CERT trainings five times. On Saturday, her role was a fan of a celebrity also on the fake flight, played by 17-year-old Samantha Simms.

Puckett clutched a Photoshopped picture of Simms standing with "Twilight" film star Robert Pattinson. In the scenario, Puckett tried to get an autograph from Simms just as the plane was crashing because the pilot was drunk.

Miriam Hannibal, 17, and Jaime Nardi, 16, played siblings separated from their father. Nardi spoke little so she wouldn't disturb the burn makeup on her face.

Hannibal said they had taken their roles so seriously during previous CERT scenarios that people thought they'd actually been injured.

Both want to become actresses, and they got into character imagining what it would've been like on the plane before it crashed.

"It's just a matter of opening your eyes as a victim," Hannibal said.

The victims piled into a junked plane and sat on the ground covered in blue tarps. Their corn syrup blood pooled in the rain as the actors cried for loved ones. About 11 a.m., organizers called the victims back, few CERT volunteers were in sight, and the victims were in real peril of hypothermia.

"We would have been dead already. The plane crashed at 6:50," Puckett said.

O'Fallon police Detective Sgt. Robert Kendall said the weather brought the training to an early close, between 1 and 2 p.m.

Plane crash situation sharpens response of crews

March 30, 2009
O’Fallon
by Kris Kolk

On Saturday, March 28, a simulated airplane crash appeared near the soccer fields at the O’Fallon Sports Park. Aircraft wreckage, fire, flares, and “victims” showing a variety of wounds, scattered the grounds. Other “passengers” waited a couple hundred yards away—hoping to be found and then rescued. Further, a debris pile trapped dummy victims.

The site seemed surreal. Amidst the “blood” and screaming, there was an eerie sense of calmness. This was, after all, a choreographed simulation intended to test the capability of the St. Charles County CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams), emergency responders and mutual aid providers.

St. Charles County W.O.R.L.D.S. was fortunate that O’Fallon Police Officer Diana Damke introduced us to Norman Nieder from Cottleville CERT.

Nieder explained that this exercise had been planned since November, following a drill in September. An assessment period allowed participants and planners to determine what went right, what to do differently and how to make an environment more challenging.

Nieder showed us into a staging area where participants portraying victims were getting into their roles. The group was a mixture of children and adults, with fake injuries ranging from a gash on the cheek to compound fractures.

Volunteers included some method-acting Thespians from Timberland High School, sporting full blood and injury make-up.

We were then led down to a pile of rubble under which life-sized and life-weighted manikins were trapped and where Cliff Smith, CERT Instructor, manned the pile. Smith described a procedure called “cribbing.” Using a combination of levers, braces and fulcrums, a cribbing team was to carefully move pieces of the pile, making sure to keep as much pressure off those trapped by the rubble.

Smith, from the not-for-profit corporation, People Helping People, Inc., showed much enthusiasm about the project. He said that in a classroom environment, there may be simulation exercises using tables and concrete blocks, but nothing to this extent.

An exercise of such scale gives participants an opportunity to refine emergency procedures, so that responding almost becomes second nature.

An emergency responder may think “I remember I did this one time in the practice session and now it’s the real thing,” Nieder said.

The event did present an unscheduled actual emergency when one of the participants seemed overcome by cold. An ambulance responded to this coinciding, real-world incident.

Planned as one of the largest full-scale drills organized among all previous exercises in the St. Louis/St. Charles metropolitan area, the exercise was cut short due to cold, rainy weather.

St. Charles County disaster response participants include members of CERT groups from St. Charles City, Cottleville, Dardenne Prairie, O’Fallon, St. Charles Community College, St. Charles County, St. Peters/Central County, Weldon Spring and Wentzville.

Also participating was the region’s first TEEN CERT. This exercise was the first time the teen responders were deployed alongside adult CERT teams. Other participants were to come from Maryland Heights, Creve Coeur, Town & Country, Eureka, Black Jack and Crestwood.

O’Fallon Police and Fire Department, St. Charles County Ambulance District, American Red Cross, Crider Center for Mental Health, and the St. Charles County Department of Emergency Management were all anticipated to participate. Other municipalities on scene included Independence Fire and Washington University EMT as well as other mutual aid organizations.

http://sccworlds.com/

Centralized response center to open in Portage des Sioux

Dedication set for Emergency Operations Center

By Kalen Ponche
Tuesday, March 17, 2009 3:13 AM CDT

The northern end of St. Charles County will have a working Emergency Operations Center just in time for the flooding season.

St. Charles County Councilman Jerry Daugherty, D-District 6, started working on creating an Emergency Operations Center in January of 2008. Work is expected to be completed by the dedication scheduled for Saturday.

The Emergency Operations Center is located inside the old St. Francis of Assisi school at the intersection of Second and Farnham streets.

The facility will provide first responders, from police officers to firefighters, a central headquarters from which to work during an emergency situation.

"I think the main thing is during a flood or a tornado we'll have a central spot for people to get information," Daugherty said. "Last year we handed out food and water and cleaning supplies to people who were flooded."

In the past during flood or ice storms, the emergency responders didn't have a place to work.

"In the 1993 flood, our emergency operations center was a johnboat and a bag phone with a can of Spam and a jar of pickles," Daugherty said.

Finding a place to build a headquarters has been a lifelong dream for Daugherty, he said.

Work began on the project last January and by the time the Mississippi started to flood last spring, an elevated floor had been installed and phone lines were being put in.

Four lateral filing cabinets and office furniture were donated, Daugherty said. AmerenUE donated three computer systems and AT&T ran DSL service to the room. The project also received cash donations from the Land Between the Rivers Historical Society and an individual.

The money allowed organizers to purchase map cases that also were elevated. Now city maps and documents can come out of Mayor Mark Warner, the city clerk and Jerry Daugherty's homes.

The project also gives the city of Portage des Sioux a place from which to build a city website and a location for people to get information.

The city has planned a dedication ceremony from 10 a.m.-noon Saturday outside the center.

Daugherty said he hopes to recognize all of the people who helped the project come together. County Executive Steve Ehlmann will be the keynote speaker and the Orchard Farm High School marching band will perform. Area fire departments are expected to have fire trucks on display. Daugherty said a helicopter might touch down as well.

The Land Between the Rivers Historical Museum, located in the same building as the operation center, will be open to visitors.

Attendees are asked to RSVP to Mayor Mark Warner so the city can buy enough food.

Want to go?

WHAT: Dedication for the Portage des Sioux Emergency Operations Center and City Hall
WHEN: 10 a.m.-noon Saturday
WHERE: Farnham and Second streets, Portage des Sioux; located inside the old St. Francis school building
EVENTS: Presentation of colors; keynote speaker St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann; barbecue pork steak lunch; performance by Orchard Farm High School marching band; displays from emergency response agencies
REGISTER: RSVP to Mayor Mark Warner at 636-899-0640 or mwsparky@sbcglobal.net

O'Fallon looking for citizen responders

By Elizabeth Perry
Tuesday, January 20, 2009 3:13 AM CST

For the first time, the city of O'Fallon is developing its own Citizen Emergency Response Team.

The team is composed of resident volunteers willing to help the police during crises.

O'Fallon Police Officer Andy Stowers said the class should appeal to anyone who thinks people "need to be able to take care of ourselves."

Seven people have signed up for CERT classes. Stowers said he hopes for 25 participants.

Many other communities in the county have CERT programs, and Stowers said officials who run those programs were resources for him.

"Everybody has helped me," Stowers said. "I couldn't do it without community support."

Shalom Shoaf, the CERT coordinator for the St. Charles Fire Department, was one of those people in the community who provided support.

Shoaf said she and Stowers talked about necessary paperwork and how to gain support for the program.

Shoaf said CERT has been around since the late 1970s, forming after an earthquake in Mexico killed 800 rescuers who were trying to clear a building. The idea is to train volunteers to increase their chances of survival and make them more effective in emergencies, Shoaf said.

Shoaf said her team is utilized more than any other in the county.

"We deploy my CERT team in the city quite a bit," Shoaf said.

Volunteer team members went door to door in St. Charles during an ice storm a couple years ago to see if residents needed help. Shoaf said her team of volunteers has safely evacuated nursing homes.

"We have to be out there ready to help our neighbors," said Phillip Yocum, an evidence officer with the Wentzville Police Department and a CERT organizer.

Stowers said Yocum also advised him.

Yocum said he was impressed by the spirit of volunteerism among his team. There is a waiting list for volunteers who want to take part in Wentzville's CERT program, he said.

Wentzville will also be conducting CERT classes for Wentzville residents Jan. 26 with CERT classes for teenagers starting Feb. 19.

Jim Sease, a volunteer who started Dardenne Prairie's CERT team, said he was glad to help with the formation of O'Fallon's team.

"I am personally excited to see O'Fallon get a program," Sease said.

Sease said the two cities are like a zipper, with O'Fallon families and Dardenne Prairie families interwoven.

Volunteer programs like CERT are important because the federal government is not always available to help right away in emergencies, Sease said.

Sease said CERT is important for another reason.

"There are times when the first responders become the victims themselves," Sease said.

First Community Credit Union donated $580 and Peoples Bank donated $500 to the program in O'Fallon, which does not have government funding yet, Stowers said.

The class has a $25.00 per-person fee to defray the cost of the program, Stowers said.

Stowers said the program is good for anybody interested in disaster services or emergency management.

Residents will learn how to be prepared for a disaster by packing kits containing, food, water and extra medication to keep them going for at least two days.

They'll learn fire safety, first aid, how to safely lift heavy objects and how to help others coping with disaster.

Search and rescue will also be covered in the three-day class.

Participants who take the class will get a backpack full of survival gear and supplies.

If you go:

WHAT: O'Fallon's Citizen Emergency Response Team Course
WHERE: 100 N. Main Street, O'Fallon
WHEN: Feb. 20 - 22
CONTACT: Officer Andy Stowers, 636-379-5686

FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.ofallon.mo.us/PO/CERT

Fire chief appointed to state committee

Mason has 30 years of fire-related experience

By Latreecia Wade
Tuesday, November 25, 2008 3:18 AM CST

Chief Russ Mason, of Central County Fire and Rescue, has sacrificed a lot to serve the residents of the fire district, and now residents throughout the state will benefit from his benevolence.

Mason, 51, of St. Peters, recently was appointed to the Advisory Committee for 911 Service Oversight by Gov. Matt Blunt.

Mason said he was recommended to the governor's office by the Missouri Fire Service Alliance because he is vice president of the Missouri Association of Fire Chiefs. He also is president of the Professional Fire and Fraud Investigation Association.

"A representative of each major group in the state get together and talk about joint issues related to fire safety," Mason said. "An opening for a fire service representative became vacant and I was chosen to fill the seat."

The husband and father of four has been with Central County for 14 years, and before that was with the Missouri Division of Fire Safety for eight years; he has 30 years of fire-related experience.

"I got into it (fire safety) as a volunteer firefighter growing up in North St. Louis County," Mason said. "The rest is history."

Mason said a career in fire safety was the last thing on his mind at first, until a conversation at a baseball game changed his mind.

"The local leagues needed a coach and I heard one of the guys was a volunteer firefighter and he told me about it and that was it," Mason said. "I knew what I wanted to do."

In 1977, he began his fire service career as a volunteer firefighter in Bolivar. In 1982, he was appointed chief of the Bolivar Fire Department.

Mason served as assistant chief for the Rolla Fire Department from 1985 to 1987. He then moved to St. Charles County after accepting a position as an investigator for the Missouri Division of Fire Safety.

In 1991, Mason was promoted to deputy chief and chief investigator in charge of the Criminal Investigation Unit for the Missouri Division of Fire Safety.

Mason joined the St. Peters Fire Protection District as an assistant chief in 1995. He was promoted to the rank of deputy chief in 1998 with the consolidation of the St. Peters and St. Charles fire protection districts. He became chief of Central County Fire and Rescue in February 2003.

"He's highly professional," Assistant Fire Chief Brian Ochs said about Mason. "He's very well versed on every aspect of fire service. He would be a great asset to the state committee."

Mason has a bachelor's degree in fire service administration from Western Illinois University. His appointment to the committee is subject to Senate confirmation for a term ending on April 9, 2010, according to a news release from the governor's office.

ROCKWOOD SCHOOLS: Staff learn rescue techniques in mock drill

Student "victims" like cool makeup

By Mary Shapiro
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 3:04 PM CST

A group of middle school teachers, carrying heavily-bandaged sixth-grader Nick Bertich on a makeshift cardboard stretcher, quickly puts him down in a hallway in Selvidge Middle School when an earthquake aftershock warning sounds Nov. 12.

As his group of "rescuers" exits the building without him, Nick, taped up almost mummy style, is aided by Metro West Fire Protection District personnel in getting himself free.

Smiling, Nick showed off his realistic "injury" makeup, saying "I'm supposed to be a person with a head injury and two broken legs."

"This makeup is really cool, but the best part was being trapped under all the boards," Nick admitted.

Nick, along with other Selvidge students, staff from all six Rockwood School District middle schools, and local police and firefighters took part in a mock earthquake disaster training exercise at the school, 235 New Ballwin Road in Ballwin.

It was the final day, and a kind of "final exam," of a three-day training exercise, allowing Rockwood Crisis Team members from each of the district's middle schools to learn the skills they'll need to react quickly and efficiently if ever faced with a major disaster at their school.

They learned, for example, how to fight a fire with a fire extinguisher, how to extricate someone trapped in a dangerous situation and how to provide first aid.

Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) instructors from the Metro West, Eureka and Fenton fire protection districts, Ballwin and St. Louis County police, as well as other CERT volunteers, led the training.

The scenario for last Wednesday was that an earthquake had hit the area, causing a disastrous situation at Selvidge. Rockwood Crisis Team members had to spring into action, make critical decisions and help the injured.

The school's lobby, for instance, was turned into a "triage" medical area, with different areas for those severely injured and not so severely, said Metro West Lt. John Bradley.

Selvidge Principal Sean Stryhal, looking on, said, "The best thing about this exercise is that our staff from all the middle schools can get firsthand experience."

He said the idea for the training session came from Selvidge assistant principal Mike Anselmo following a crisis-training workshop between Rockwood officials and local emergency services providers in September.

"We needed to make certain we know what to do in a crisis, and that's why this CERT training was important," Anselmo said. "And this was a great way for students to do their part."

Down a health science area hallway, "trapped" student victims, screaming "help!" at the top of their lungs, were buried under plywood debris, which supposedly was part of a collapsed ceiling.

Pieces of pipe were used by rescuers as crowbars and the plywood was used as "cribbing" to help lift debris off "victims."

"All this debris becomes tools; they're learning," Bradley explained.

Bill Roach, with the St. Louis County Police Office of Emergency Management, praised the effort.

"Especially in a catastrophe like a tornado or earthquake, you can't have enough trained people," Roach said. "Having trained people scattered through the schools is a valuable resource. We stress this kind of training because the time to figure out how to react is not when a ceiling has collapsed. We hope the students here can take this training home to help their parents."

Bradley agreed that in a disaster, emergency service responders could be spread thin, "and trained teachers can respond faster and make a greater impact."

"This is the first time we've done this activity, but we hope it will continue," he said.

Police school resource officers took part in the training. Selvidge's SRO, Ballwin police officer Dave Ovca, said the exercise "has given me an opportunity to interact with staff from various schools and see how we can all work together in an emergency situation, where working on students makes it realistic."

"Staff did well, showing a lot of flexibility, and the kids did a great job, too," Ovca said.

About two dozen Selvidge students had the chance to volunteer as victims and be made up with remarkably realistic "wounds" created by CERT trainer LaFaye Young.

"We prepped the kids, telling them to say how much their burns and wounds hurt and to yell and scream," Bradley said. "That was a way to build in 'stressers' for rescuers, challenging them psychologically. It's been pretty loud, which is why we chose a part of school where there wouldn't be too much class disruption."

A group of bandaged "walking wounded" - seventh-graders Hayley Nebrig and Molly Grotha and eighth-graders Jessie Berger and Gabby Tecklenburg - said they loved the chance to emote.

"I wanted to do this because I thought it would be fun and wanted to help our teachers learn," Hayley said. "My rescuers did good, asking if I was OK and what I needed."

For Molly, the best part "was getting to scream and being rolled on a stretcher."

"I'm going to leave my makeup on when I go home," she said.

"I really liked being buried in rubble," Jessie said. "I played someone who was blind, but I knew there were always people right there to help me."

Saying she hoped she could hang on to her "leg wound," Gabby said that if a disaster actually happened, "our teachers need to know what to do so a lot of us wouldn't be killed - like we supposedly were this time."

In a debriefing session, Metro West's Mike Thiemann, coordinator of community services and disaster preparedness, praised the group's response - even those who left Nick behind in the aftershock.

"Rescuers can't rescue anyone if they're injured themselves," he told the group.

Tina Priese, a business education teacher at LaSalle Springs Middle School, said the activity "helped me learn organization and to set priorities in a crisis."

"Before, I had never used a fire extinguisher and had no idea how to lift debris off somebody," Priese said.

Katie Kowalik, a seventh-grade language arts teacher at LaSalle Springs, said she learned how to stay calm.

"The teamwork was great, and I was surprised how much you can lift with the proper tools," Kowalik said.

"We found out a lot about disaster first-aid and the importance of planning, knowing what you're getting into," said Libby Guimbarda, an eighth-grade language arts teacher at Crestview Middle School. After this, I'm motivated to volunteer for more training."

Battalion Chief Ed Beirne of Metro West, which organized the effort, said, "We've been able to teach not just competency but confidence, so staff can take care of issues before we get there. This kind of hands-on exercise makes the difference."

More in Maryville involved in addressing emergencies

Village creates volunteer team

By Aaron Sudholt
Wednesday, November 12, 2008 3:01 AM CST

Maryville emergency responders will get extra help the next time the village is hit with a major wind storm, power outage or other emergency.

The Maryville Community Emergency Responders Team will provide 14 certified volunteers who can check on the elderly and answer non-emergency disaster response calls.

"The snow storms from last year were a big factor (in forming the group)," said Dan Wright, a member of CERT who serves on the Maryville Community Improvement Board. "We could have used some people volunteering in the community."

Snow storms that hit the St. Louis area during the 2007-2008 winter made roads treacherous, cut power and sometimes trapped people in their homes. According to the National Weather Service, St. Louis received 20.2 inches of snow that winter.

The snow was a big factor in forming the team, village officials said.

"We didn't have the manpower to make sure the roads were open and then still go door to door to check on some of our residents," said Mayor Larry Gulledge. "Our Fire Department and our Police Department were running in every direction."

The Maryville Community Improvement Board spearheaded the decision to have the CERT team formed. They sought out volunteers and had them trained by members of the Collinsville CERT team.

The team will be under the authority of the Maryville Fire Department and Maryville Police Department and deployed as needed.

"If we have any kind of emergency here, we'll call them out, either to direct traffic or go door to door to check on residents," Gulledge said.

The team was officially activated at the Nov. 5 Village Board meeting.

The CERT team will direct traffic and make sure elderly or ill residents are safe during such emergencies, when the weather can make it especially dangerous for them.

Each member works on a volunteer basis and is not paid for their commitment to the team.