WEAVERVILLE, Calif. – The Bureau of Reclamation, in cooperation with Trinity County response agencies, will be conducting an emergency full scale exercise at Douglas City Elementary School on Friday, May 18, 2012, from 9 to 11 a.m. The exercise will simulate an earthquake which causes Trinity Dam to fail, creating a flood along the Trinity River that causes a simulated structural failure at the school. Twenty students will participate by acting out various stages of injury. The agencies involved include: Bureau of Reclamation, Trinity County Sheriff’s Office, California Highway Patrol, Trinity County Office of Education, Douglas City Elementary School, Trinity County Department of Transportation, Trinity County Health and Human Services, Douglas City Volunteer Fire Department, Weaverville Volunteer Fire Department, Amateur Radio Emergency Service, CalEMA, Trinity County Life Support and the American Red Cross.

The goal of this full scale exercise is to coordinate and implement triage and transport of the ‘injured’ students before the leading edge of flood waters arrive. Trinity County Life Support ambulances and a California Highway Patrol helicopter will be used in addition to local transit buses to evacuate the “wounded” to Weaverville Airport, where a mobile alternate care site will be set up by county public health professionals. The exercise will allow response agencies to practice special skills, reverse 9-1-1 capability, multi-agency coordination and backup emergency communication capabilities provided by Amateur Radio Emergency Services operators.

Reclamation regularly exercises its federal facilities along with local emergency response agencies in order to practice the plans and operating procedures, develop expertise and build good working relationships and communications with local responders. Reclamation’s top priorities are to ensure the safety of the public, property and Reclamation facilities. Practicing these plans is essential to being prepared in the event of a real emergency situation.

The Douglas City Elementary School is using this exercise to further their emphasis on earthquake safety. For the safety of students, faculty and responders the public is being asked to stay clear of both exercise sites at the Douglas City School and the Weaverville Airport between 9 and 11 a.m.

For additional information, please contact Sheri Harral, Bureau of Reclamation, 530-276-2030.