The City of Oak Ridge will be conducting a city-wide exercise of the Emergency Management System and Emergency Operations Center today. The full-participation exercise will begin at 11:15 this morning (Thursday, November 5) at Oak Ridge Fire Department headquarters located in the Municipal Building at 200 South Tulane Avenue in Oak Ridge.
The drill was planned and is administered by 10 instructors from across the United States and former Federal Emergency Management Agency emergency managers and trainers. The lead instructor is Phil McLaughlin, owner of the McLaughlin Training Group, a press release said. Chief McLaughlin is the retired deputy commissioner of the Philadelphia Fire Department.
All city departments are represented in today’s drill, along with representatives from Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, Anderson County Health Department, American Red Cross, Civil Air Patrol, Oak Ridge Schools, Methodist Medical Center, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the city manager’s office.
“This is the first time the city has conducted such a large-scale exercise to prepare responders to manage a disaster,” the press release said.
The drill will continue until about 3:45 p.m., when the participants will return to the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom for a debriefing. Please feel free to stop by at any time today for additional information.
“This is a tabletop exercise only,” the press release said. “There are no assets participating in the field.”
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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