nSide Supports FEMA Sponsored Virtual Table-Top Active Shooter Drill

nSide was invited by Franklin, Southhampton, Isle of Wight, VA Local Emergency Planning Committee and Paul D. Camp Community College, Franklin, VA to participate and support a FEMA sponsored Table-Top Active Shooter Drill at Paul D. Camp Community College, Franklin, VA campus on 01/12/16.The exercise, facilitated by Western Tidewater Medical Reserve Corps, was a virtual table-top, re-enactment held simultaneously with other organizations across the country. The scenario was an Active Shooter simulation occurring on campus during a busy school day. Over 80 drill attendees participated which included 5 community college departments, WTHD and PDCCC executive leadership, Emergency Management experts, Franklin VA Police, Franklin VA Fire, local Chapter of the American Red Cross, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, FBImany local k-12 school officials, and others.

The scope of the exercise was to focus on the role of each organization in response to potential consequences of an active shooter scenario, as well as the interdisciplinary and interagency coordination both at the local, regional, state, and Federal level. The drill stepped through a series of discussion based modules with learning, collaboration and discussion questions and goals so all attendees could better understand each group’s role, become better prepared and visualize the response and recovery processes. During the drill exercise, the facilitators engaged all participants about how best to respond to and disseminate new information constantly coming in via phone calls, texts and tweets from students, faculty and first responders on site.

The team stressed the following primary goals throughout the exercise:

– Activating emergency plans and procedures

– Appropriately interfacing with the command structure

– Developing public information and media plans to handle concerns

– Determining resource needs of the community and potential sources of support and requesting resources, as appropriate

– Identifying coordination and policy issues regarding multi-agency coordination systems.

All attendees were focused on preparing for an active shooter incident and defining and honing the 5 mission critical core capabilities:

– Prevention

– Protection

– Mitigation

– Response

– Recovery

nSide provided a campus and building visualization application that added clarity to the locations of entries and exits, location of the shooter and how best to respond. nSide web and mobile versions of the software were projected on a large display screen, depicting full campus views and then zooming to the area of the building at the center of the incident. The campus and building visualization application showed entrances into the building with 360 pictures of each room, walk throughs of the building, critical fire and medical assets, identification of other potential dangers including hazardous materials, gases and contaminants. Additionally, nSide’s campus visualization mobile app showed rooms as they were cleared with casualty and fatality icons to mark where recovery teams needed to respond. Attendees were very impressed by visualizations provided by nSide. Several attendees stated the maps provided excellent information throughout the event to best understand the location and what was happening as the response was underway and how recovery would be rolled out. nSide provided an excellent resource to help with decision making and planning.

We applaud these efforts to create a realistic event for learning and using innovative new technologies like nSide to be better prepared to respond more effectively and efficiently. These types of training exercises make a dramatic impact on saving lives, minimizing the impact of an incident and protecting property in case of an emergency..

We thank Paul D. Camp Community College, Franklin, Southampton, Isle of Wight, VA Local Emergency Planning Committee and Western Tidewater Medical Reserve Corps for allowing nSide to support this exercise.