DAVIS – More than 60 emergency personnel gathered at Canaan Valley Resort last weekend to update and sharpen their skills and broaden their learning during TACTICS – Tucker All Hazards Conference Training in Canaan. This is the
Darla Stemple, Director of the Tucker County Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management/911 said besides training, the weekend gives participants an opportunity to network with folks who perform the same job.
“After the day of learning, we participate in skilled games,” Stemple said. “They take a backboard and put a basketball on top and attempt to go through an obstacle course without dropping the ball. We try to offer what folks say they need.”
Stemple said the classes focus on needs for firefighters, EMS and emergency management.
“We try to offer interesting classes and classes they cannot get anywhere else,” Stemple said. “This afternoon, the pumps class will be outside flowing water. They like the hands-on training.”
Canaan Valley Fire Chief Sandy Green served as the incident commander for the weekend training.
“It was a group brainchild more than six years ago to do something like the TACTICS training,” Green said. “We have been trying to bring training to Tucker County for Tucker County responders whose departments don’t have enough money to send them elsewhere for training or they do not have the time. You take the day and get your training.”
Stemple said the Tucker County Commission reimburses the county for every participant earning 16 hours of TACTICS training.
“It is a good plan to get local responders out to train,” Green said.
Mike Jarrett, from Kanawha County Ambulance Authority, taught a class about critical incident stress management.
“What we do is help EMS, firefighters, police and emergency personnel who handle incidents on a daily basis learn to cope with a crisis response event,” Jarrett said. “We try to mitigate a psychological impact on them. This allows them to get grounded and normalize the feelings and thoughts they are having about the event. It’s like dusting them off and putting them back on the truck.”
Jarrett said following the conference, folks will be able to leave the conference, go back to their areas and function as group crisis intervention specialists.
Jim Ancell led a class of responders learning to be Public Information Officers.
“We are learning how to gather information and give it back to the media,” Ancell said. “They are learning how to write press releases and how to use Social Media to get information out to the media as well as to the public.”
Ancell said he hopes to teach responders the media is not their enemy.
Some other classes offered during the TACTICS training were EMS and the law, ropes, basic pump operations and capnography.
