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.
