The Whitfield County Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) conducted a full-scale emergency drill Thursday at the North Georgia Fairgrounds on Legion Drive in Dalton.
This drill focused on a simulated transportation incident involving a hazardous chemical spill. The drill mock-up was that a 5-gallon container of propylene oxide leaked as it was transported by workers of a local chemical facility from storage to processing. Ten Dalton High School students role-played as the employees who had to be decontaminated on scene and then taken to Hamilton Medical Center.
As part of the drill, it was simulated that a nearby restaurant had been contaminated and six patrons had to be evacuated.
Propylene oxide is a colorless, flammable liquid that can be very toxic when inhaled.
Claude Craig, director of the Whitfield County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) and LEPC chairman said, “This transportation disaster drill brought together first responders, government agencies and private entities to test our ability to respond together in the event of a large scale emergency.”
Active participants with Whitfield County EMA in the drill included the Whitfield County Fire Department, Whitfield County EMS, Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office, Dalton Fire Department, Dalton Police Department, Hamilton Medical Center, North Georgia Health District, Whitfield Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), Whitfield County government, Whitfield County Schools, Dalton Public Schools and local businesses.
“Our partners did a good job today implementing the emergency plans we have spent years developing,” Craig stated. “We will now thoroughly review how well we responded and determine how we can make improvements.”
Local News
Related Photos
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Ken Hostetler uses a brush to scrub down fellow firefighter Chad Hall during a disaster drill Thursday at the North Georgia Fairgrounds. (Matt Hamilton/The Daily Citizen)
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Firefighters simulate decontaminating victims of a chemical spill Thursday at the North Georgia Fairgrounds. (Matt Hamilton/The Daily Citizen)
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Dalton High students, playing victims of a chemical spill, are helped to a decontamination area at the North Georgia Fairgrounds Thursday during a disaster drill. (Matt Hamilton/The Daily Citizen)
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Dalton High students, playing victims of a chemical spill, are helped to a decontamination area at the North Georgia Fairgrounds Thursday during a disaster drill. (Matt Hamilton/The Daily Citizen)
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Dalton firefighters simulate deconaminating simulated victims, played by Dalton High students, of a simulated chemical spill during a disaster simulation Thursday at the Noth Georgia Fairgrounds. (Matt Hamilton/The Daily Citizen)
Discussion
Transportation disaster drill tested Whitfield response
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‘It was a brutal time’
Dr. William Blackman, left, explains how amputations were done during the Civil War with a bone saw as Brett Huske looks on at the Hamilton House Saturday. (Matt Hamilton/The Daily Citizen)
Dr. William Blackman opened a box of tools consisting of medical instruments, including a saw, and proceeded to tell visitors how they were used more than a century ago to amputate limbs for soldiers wounded on the battlefield.
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