Valley Springs, CA, April 4, 2014: More than 100 volunteers and local
emergency responders will take part in the third Annual Calaveras
Emergency Exercise on Saturday, 12 April in the Valley Springs/Jenny
Lind area. This exercise will test the preparedness and response of
local, regional and state agencies should a real crisis occur that has
the potential to overwhelm local emergency responders.
The
event, staged by the cooperative efforts of CALFIRE-TCU, Calaveras
Consolidated Fire and Calaveras Office of Emergency Services, will focus
on response plans for an actual disaster. One that would trigger a
sudden influx of injured persons, media, concerned community members and
test the compatibility of different public agencies (Sheriff, Fire,
CHP) to not only work and communicate with each other but work and
communicate with private and nongovernment organizations like the
America Legion Ambulance, PG&E, Red Cross and the Calaveras
Emergency Response Teams,
The scenario chosen for this emergency
exercise is a simulated break in the main PG&E natural gas line in
the Valley Springs/Burson area that will involve a vegetation fire fed
by sustained 30mph winds and gusts upwards of 45-50mph. The fire will
take a similar track as the 2004 Pattison Complex fire in this same
general area. Calaveras Consolidated Fire in cooperation with CALFIRE,
Law Enforcement, PG&E, and others will be tasked with the gas leak
and resulting Wildland fire threatening nearby homes and ranches.
The
Calaveras Red Cross, at the request of Calaveras Office of Emergency
Services and Calaveras Works, will open an evacuation center in Valley
Springs to accommodate the evacuees. San Joaquin County Office of
Emergency Services and the Red Cross of San Joaquin County will open and
coordinate another evacuation center (simulated) in San Joaquin County
for evacuees directed to San Joaquin County to avoid fire on both sides
of highway 12 and 26. Communications between Fire, Sheriff, CHP, and the
Red Cross Shelters in San Joaquin and Calaveras Counties will be
facilitated by the Calaveras Amateur Radio Society/Amateur Radio
Emergency Services.
Sgt. Whiting, Calaveras Office of
Emergency Services, cautions that the event is a significant exercise
and the local community can expect to see emergency responders looking
and acting as if this exercise were a true disaster. However, normal Law
Enforcement, Fire, and Ambulance operations will not be affected by the
drill in any way.
