By Ron Clayton
Chattanooga Times Free Press (Tennessee)
Copyright 2006 Chattanooga Publishing Company
ATHENS, Tenn. — A fire drill complete with police cars and fire engines caused confusion here Thursday among some media members who weren’t warned in advance of the drill. Then an actual fire call sent fire engines to another part of town, compounding the chaos.
The scheduled drill was at a LifeCare nursing center near Athens Regional Medical Center. A local radio station picked up dispatch information and reported a fire with casualties, triggering calls from worried family members.
“We did not get an indication it was a mock drill,” WYXI owner Mark Leffler said.
The city police radio channels are encrypted and therefore not monitored. As part of the drill, the fire channel indicated a response to the LifeCare site. Then the county 911 center reported an electrical fire with injuries and a triage center being set up.
Police Chief Chuck Ziegler said the city sent out notices that the fire dispatch call was merely an exercise.
“We pulled our tape and it was announced it was a drill,” Chief Ziegler said.
But Mr. Leffler said a scanner often does not pick up the first portion of a message, and radio station employees never heard about the drill. He also said the county dispatchers did not state it was a drill.
“I asked Chief Ziegler if it wouldn’t be a good idea to notify media about a drill, and he said it wasn’t his responsibility,” Mr. Leffler said. Chief Ziegler said LifeCare should have called the media, since the police department was simply assisting.
Lifecare Administrator Wallace Stutts said a notice was put in the local newspaper, but no other media were notified.
In the middle of the drill, a real fire was reported at a house on the north side of town. Both city fire engines were at the drill, so one unit responded while the other loaded equipment from the LifeCare drill.
The home sustained major damage, but no one was injured. Fire officials said they didn’t know how the blaze started.