By James Nash
The Columbus Dispatch
Copyright 2007 The Columbus Dispatch
All Rights Reserved
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The procession of dozens of emergency vehicles to and from Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base yesterday was as calm and orderly as anyone could expect amid multiple deadly explosions around Franklin County.
Of course, there were no deadly explosions, but dozens of police and fire agencies from throughout the region pretended there were in a massive drill.
Their verdict: Central Ohio is ready for a disaster on the scale of a major terrorist attack or weather emergency.
Yesterday’s exercise simulated an attack of almost unthinkable proportions: At the Ohio State Fairgrounds, bombs tear through recreational vehicles and through the Coca-Cola Coliseum, trapping people inside; a school in Gahanna is nearly leveled by an attack; and Easton Town Center is the site of several major explosions.
Within minutes, 33 police agencies ranging from 7 miles to 60 miles from the disaster areas could be summoned, bringing 302 police officers, 34 ambulances and 35 fire engines, said Vern Chenevey of the Ohio Homeland Security Department.
Statewide, 965 of Ohio’s 1,225 fire departments have pledged to commit people and engines to major disasters, accounting for 875 engines, 250 ladders and 60 hazardous-materials crews.
Ohio police and fire agencies have made major strides since 2001 in coordinating their people and communications equipment, said Mike Ludwick, a retired fire chief from Clark County and regional emergency plan coordinator for the Ohio Fire Chiefs’ Association. But there are always kinks to work out, particularly in telecommunications equipment, he said.
“From my perspective as a retired fire chief, it’s nice to know that if you need help you can get help fairly quickly,” Ludwick said. “We’re pretty well along the path of where we need to be.”
Franklin County soon will receive a vehicle -- one of 11 in Ohio -- that can tie incompatible radio equipment into a seamless network, said C.J. Couch, spokesman for the Ohio Emergency Management Agency. The nearest such vehicles are in Ross and Guernsey counties.
Even when equipment and personnel are miles away, it’s fairly easy to summon them to the scene of a disaster, officials from the state Department of Homeland Security demonstrated yesterday in front of about 200 fire and police leaders, including observers from several other states.
Ohio has developed a computer inventory of all emergency personnel and equipment across departments that’s searchable on a secure Web site. Within minutes of a disaster, a police or fire chief can locate the nearest hazardous-materials teams, for example, and send alerts to summon them.