County practices for a large-scale emergency

RANDLEMAN — I drove into the Randleman Regional Reservoir Marina on Jan. 6 at 8 a.m., just as the morning fog began to dissipate. 

The only others present were a large flock of birds resting on the water, a handful of emergency personnel, and nearly a dozen students with the Paramedic Academy.

They weren’t there to save anyone.

They were playing the part of the patients.

The 911 call went out just after 10 a.m., preceded by the words “This is a drill!”

The Level Cross Fire Department arrived first from Station 43. By then, the students were on the ground, complaining that they could not move or were having trouble breathing. 

The firefighters surveyed the rest of the scene: An overturned truck and a colorless fluid spraying out of its tank down the boating dock into one of the Piedmont’s key sources of drinking water.

They read out the tank’s placard number: 1778, the Department of Transportation identification for the corrosive chemical hydrofluosilicic acid.

Multi-agency response

It all played out under the watchful eye of Randolph County Emergency Services Maj. Christie McCorquodale and evaluators from EnviroSafe, a consulting company for disaster preparedness and risk management. The county organized the exercise using a grant from the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT).

I was there not just to report for the Hub, but to play the role of a reporter who shows up in the middle of the rescue effort, an added distraction for responders who are trying to contain the disaster scene.

The marina quickly filled with fire engines and ambulances. Trucks from Greensboro Hazmat, North Carolina Rapid Response Team and the Piedmont Triad Regional Water Authority (PTRWA) followed them in. Level Cross firefighters moved “patients” away from the overturned tanker. Randleman firefighters set up a decontamination area to hose them down before taking them to the hospital. Once the scene was clear, the hazmat team suited up to try and seal the leaking tank.

One of NCDOT’s grant stipulations was that the exercise have a traffic incident and hazardous chemical component, which was why Emergency Services created a scenario of an overturned tanker truck. The Paramedic Academy students pretended to be a Randolph Community College biology class doing field research when they tried to aid the injured truck driver and exposed themselves to his spilled cargo.

The “chemical” in the tank was just water, but the exercise reflect real risk factors. “This may feel like a faraway thing,” McCorquodale said, “but the more we’re prepared for big scenarios, the better we’re prepared for small ones.”

Long-term effects

Roughly 10 miles south of the marina, the Emergency Services building on New Century Drive was buzzing. EMS, public health and managers for the county, Asheboro, Archdale and Randleman had gathered in the command center to work out short-term and long-term responses. Families evacuated around the marina needed a place to go. Randleman Lake’s treatment plant needed to shut off its pumps and valves to protect the treated water.

Environmental health personnel were on standby to assess the contamination fallout. Commissioner Hope Haywood reviewed a press release message with Public Information Officer Amy Rudisill. Chamber of Commerce President Adam Deathe was brought in to review how a water shutoff might impede businesses.

My next role was to announce a press conference. Commissioner Chair Darrell Frye, County Manager Zeb Holden and Emergency Services Deputy Chief Jared Byrd moved into a conference room to share a message for the public: The state of the victims, the response at the treatment plant and a need for communities to conserve water.

As the exercise concluded, Holden said it was helpful to look through the backup water supplies should Lake Randleman become temporarily unavailable.

During the debrief at the end of the day, the evaluator stressed smooth communication between agencies in and outside the county. 

“It really is important that we bring all the players to the table,” he said. “Not just the players who’ve got decision-making, people that can pull those triggers when they need to be pulled.”