Ferndale School District has hosted multiple emergency scenario preparedness drills on school campuses over the past few years. Another has been announced for this month and it involves dozens of agencies.
According to the information page on the School District’s website, Operation Green Hornet is scheduled to begin at 9am Thursday, October 13th at Horizon Middle School. The drill starts with law enforcement responding to the school campus in response to a 911 call.
The campus will be put on lockdown until staff and students can be evacuated to the Ferndale High School campus. Once they arrive, the reunification process (matching students with their parents) will be simulated. After students and staff have been evacuated, law enforcement will be conducting exercises to simulate clearing of the Horizon campus building.
The Ferndale Police Department and Whatcom County Fire District 7 will be testing their response times, lines of communication and hand-off procedure.
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Click for more informationOff campus, simulations will be conducted at PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center and Whatcom Unified Command staff will be conducting a regional communication exercise, both tied to the Horizon Middle School drill.
During the drill, there are to be practice lockdowns at several other Ferndale School District schools as well.
Everything should be complete and returned to normal when the students and staff are transported from the high school back to the Horizon campus around noon, in time for lunch.
According to the School District, this will be the largest exercise of its kind in Washington State and is six months in the making. Whatcom Unified Emergency Management is credited with coordinating the agencies involved.
The following is a list of the nearly 3 dozen participating agencies according to the Ferndale School District:
- Airlift Northwest
- American Red Cross
- City of Bellingham Fire Department
- City of Bellingham Office of Emergency Management
- City of Bellingham Police Department
- City of Blaine Police Department
- City of Ferndale (City Council)
- City of Ferndale (Mayors Office)
- Dept. of Homeland Security Air and Marine
- Dept. of Homeland Security Customs and Border Protection
- Federal Bureau of Investigation
- Ferndale Police Department
- Ferndale Police Department Auxilliary Communication Service
- Ferndale School District
- Ferndale School District Safety Advisory Committee
- Lummi Nation Behaviorial Health
- Lummi Nation Business Council
- Lummi Nation Police Department
- Lummi Nation System Of Care
- PeaceHealth
- Prospect Dispatch
- Skagit County Emergency Management
- Support Officers Community Crisis Care
- Volunteer Mobilization Center
- Whatcom Community College
- Whatcom County Fire District #7
- Whatcom County Fire Marshal’s Office
- Whatcom County Sheriffs Office
- Whatcom County Sheriffs Office Special Response Unit
- Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office Auxilliary Communications Service
- Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office Community Emergency Response Team
- Whatcom County Sheriffs Office Division of Emergency Management
- Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office Support Officers
- WhatComm Dispatch