01-05-2025
Area first responders participate in Active Shooter Incident Management training
BRISTOL, Va. (WJHL) — The Johnson City police officers and firefighters, as well as other first responders, participated in Active Shooter Incident Management (ASIM) training in Bristol, Virginia on Wednesday.
Organized by the Johnson City Fire Department, the multi-agency training uses the advanced NIMSPro #D Simulation System, which places participants inside realistic active shooter situations.
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The training may look like a video game, but it's important training for area law enforcement, firefighters, medics and dispatchers.
Fifty-four first responders from more than half a dozen agencies took part in the three-day course facilitated by C3 Pathways.
'What we're trying to do is to reduce the time that it takes to neutralize the threat, reduce the time that it takes to treat and transport the injured off of that site,' said Russell Woody, an instructor with C3 Pathways.
Woody said funding comes from several sources, including FEMA, making it free for area agencies. He said C3 Pathways uses information from 434 past active shooter events for the training.
The training tries to depict an event from start to finish and helps agencies from neighboring jurisdictions practice working together.
Jason Powell, Assistant Chief of Administration with the Johnson City Fire Department, helped organize the event. He said it's important to get representation of all agencies that would respond to a critical event.
'One result of that is when we come together like this, we find that we're really more similar than we are different,' Powell said. 'And it just helps us to be able to have that confidence and, more importantly, the trust that we're going to do our thing and our law enforcement counterparts and our dispatch counterparts. They're going to do their thing to take care of those needs.'
Powell said the training is especially important for newer employees. Since real-life events like those in the simulation don't happen very often, the training gives them a chance to get experience.
'If we just wait for those experiences to come, we're not going to do very well,' Powell said. 'We're not going to live up to the expectations that we've set for ourselves and the expectations that our communities have for us. So we have to put our younger folks through these paces and get them some experience and training. So they've at least had some or some point of reference that they can refer back to.'
The training even includes how to talk to the media through mock interviews.
Dispatchers are now considered first responders in Tennessee, and Washington County, Tennessee dispatcher Cynthia Vanhoy said the training has been invaluable by giving her confidence to handle such an event in the future.
'I've learned so much, and I feel so much more prepared than I was for if and when an incident like this happens in our jurisdiction or even a neighboring jurisdiction, because we've learned so much about mutual aid and helping other agencies,' Vanhoy said. 'But yes, this has by far been the best training I've ever been to.'
The training includes a pre-test and post-test so all first responders can evaluate what they've learned.
The ASIM course ran from Tuesday through Thursday. In addition to the Johnson City agencies, the following agencies also participated: Bristol, TN Police, Bristol, TN Police Communications, Bristol, VA Police, Bristol, VA Police Communications, Bristol, VA Fire, City of Johnson City Communications and Marketing, Washington County-Johnson City EMS and Washington County 911.
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