Joint training exercises take place in Northern Michigan
PETOSKEY – Anyone who drove past the Emmet County Fairgrounds on Tuesday or Wednesday probably saw military vehicles and dozens of Michigan National Guard members.
Its members, along with numerous other local and state security and law enforcement agencies, were in town conducting joint training exercises. During the two days, training simulations took place in Emmet, Cheboygan and Mackinac counties.
In addition to the National Guard and county authorities, the Michigan State Police, the United States Coast Guard, the Petoskey Department of Public Safety, the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, local fire and rescue departments and others participated in the exercises.
Each district activated its own emergency operations center for the training.
“We’re really using the exercise to train and work through the process of opening the EOC and deploying the resource requests, thinking through how we need to proceed for both our primary and secondary staff in the emergency operations center,” said Matthew Blythe, Emmet County Emergency Management Coordinator.
EOC participants monitored the training via drone and discussed ways to communicate with the community, such as involving public schools or North Central Michigan College in an emergency when shelters need to be opened.
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Blythe emphasized the importance of practicing coordination between so many departments before an actual emergency.
“We see incident-based responses far too often,” he said. “On a bright sunny day like this, it’s important to coordinate with everyone and get them to talk about what’s happening in the community and especially the first responder community so we’re all on the same page and we all know what needs to happen. That’s an important part of preparedness planning and one of the reasons we’re working with the Guard, the Cost Guard and all the other agencies today.”
In Emmet County, training was held at the fairgrounds and at the water treatment plant adjacent to Magnus Park in Petoskey.
At the water treatment plant, the exercise focused on protecting critical infrastructure.
More: National Guard and police conduct joint training in Petoskey
In the scenario at the fairgrounds, the National Guard responded to a mock protest staged by volunteers that turned violent. The volunteers threw projectiles—small plastic balls like those found in ball pits—at the National Guard, pushed against their shields, placed incendiary devices, and created medical emergencies that the National Guard had to respond to.
Volunteer Michele Cole said she had acted in a play with Blythe and was invited to participate in the training exercise as an actress.
“It was a lot of fun to scream,” she said. “It’s like therapy, to scream at people for nothing.”
Cole added that it had been “wonderful” to see the coordination between the different agencies.
“I think it’s wonderful that they’re coordinating because it’s very difficult across departments,” she said. “I’m very grateful for their services.”
– Contact Jillian Fellows at [email protected].
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