Disaster drill Friday at RDM; ‘active shooter’ drill Monday in Madras
The Redmond Municipal Airport will conduct a full response disaster drill Friday morning, officials said Thursday evening.
The disaster drill will be held on RDM property inside the airfield fence and is not open to the public.
The Federal Aviation Administration requires airports, of RDM’s size, to conduct realistic commercial passenger aircraft disaster training drills once every three years.
About 80 participants will act as passengers with a wide variety of challenges including fires, realistic mock injuries and potentially wet weather which emergency personnel, RDM staff, air carrier representative and partner agencies will be responding to.
RDM has coordinated with regional partners to practice, learn and prepare together including: Redmond Fire and Rescue, Black Butte Ranch Fire Department, Bend Fire Department, Sisters – Camp Sherman Fire District, St. Charles Health Care systems including Redmond, Prineville and Bend, St. Charles Family Care in Redmond, Bend Memorial Clinic in Redmond, Redmond Police Department, Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office including Search and Rescue (SAR), Deschutes County Public Health, Deschutes County 911, Deschutes County Public Health, Oregon Health Authority, COCC Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) Students, Life Flight and Air Link and local media.
In a separate drill, emergency service providers throughout Jefferson County will be conducting a training exercise on Monday from 10-11 a.m. near the old — and now empty — county courthouse, Undersheriff Marc Heckathorn said Thursday.
The facility is located at 75 SE C street in Madras. The exercise will be focused on seeing how local emergency service providers would respond to an active threat scenario.
Road closures will be in place surrounding the old courthouse, starting around 7 AM, Heckathorn said.
The scenario will begin at 10 AM and will end sharply at 11 AM.
During the drill, officers from Madras Police, Warm Springs Police and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office will respond and secure the threat while rescuers from Jefferson County EMS District, Jefferson County Fire District No. 1 and Warm Springs Fire & Safety respond and care for the wounded. Patients will be transported by ambulance to St. Charles Madras, Heckathorn said.
The drill is an attempt to take training that has been taught locally and apply it in a real-world scenario, the undersheriff said.
Law enforcement will attempt to locate and then isolate, distract or neutralize the threat while fire and EMS providers team up, along with officers, to form rescue task force teams. These teams will enter the building and remove any injured person from the area for medical treatment.
The exercise will last for one hour and that time was selected due to an overwhelming public safety response that would be coming from all over the state to assist us in a rea- life situation but the first hour would only be local emergency service providers.
A detour will be set up around the building between C and D streets and 6 th and 7 th streets.
“We are encouraging the public to stay clear of the area during the drill,” Heckathorn said. The grounds of the old courthouse will be closed but the Jefferson County Annex will remain open. The public should expect to see officers with weapons drawn but all will be rendered safe and is part of the drill. Please don’t call 911 reporting the activity around the building during this time. All agencies will have extra staff on to handle any actual call for service during this time.
