DANVILLE — Several emergency services agencies and other first responder units recently met at the Vermilion County Emergency Management Agency office on Georgetown Road for a table-top disaster exercise.

“We have not had a disaster exercise for about 12 years,” explained Ted Fisher, director of Vermilion County EMA. “Under the new National Incident Management System, we are required to have table-top and live-action exercises every two years.”

According to Fisher, the last disaster exercise was paid for by federal funds because of Vermilion County’s close proximity to the VX nerve agent stored at Newport, Ind.

“This exercise was paid for by a small grant we received from the Illinois EMA,” Fisher added. “We hope to have a live-action exercise later this year.”

NIMS was established in 2003 by a presidential directive that requires the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to develop and implement a plan on how government and non-government agencies as well as the private sector will respond during incidents and disasters. This was established as a direct result of the attack on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.

One of the requirements of NIMS is that each municipality be certified as “NIMS compliant,” which includes the smallest village in the county. One of the consequences of not being “NIMS compliant” can be the loss of federal preparedness grant funds or to even be considered for those funds.

Michelle Rice, office manager at the Vermilion County EMA, is responsible for bringing everyone in the county into compliance with the NIMS requirement.

“The original deadline set by the federal government for everyone to be NIMS compliant was October 2009,” said Rice. “That deadline was not met by Illinois and a majority of the states, but there is a real push on now to get everyone in compliance.”

According to Rice, there are many questions still to be answered about NIMS, such as what happens if all of the villages and other governmental bodies in the county are not compliant but the county itself is in compliance?

Rice first started with county officeholders, county board members and county employees to get them compliant. Then she moved on, visiting each town and village in the county, and explaining to them the requirements of NIMS.

“After I finish with the towns and villages,” Rice said, “I move on to townships and school boards. No one is exempt.”

“I really didn’t have to do too much with the fire departments because they were already aware of the requirements,” Rice added.

“The basic NIMS requirement is that government employees take the ICS-100, 200, 700 and 800 courses,” explained Rice. “These four courses have study guides for them and then you take a test. It is all done online.”

Rice said it takes about three hours to do the four tests. This is required of even the smallest village that has no police department or public works department.

Mayors, police and fire personnel, and department heads such as public works superintendents are required to take two additional courses which are taught in a 16-hour classroom setting. These are ICS-300 and 400.

NIMS identifies the command and control structure in villages, counties, states and at the federal level. It also sets forth policies and procedures for dealing with incidents and how to best recover from them.

Rice said the federal government is already starting to penalize government agencies that are not NIMS compliant. She cited a local fire department that was denied a grant for a brush fire truck because its members were not all NIMS compliant.

The exercise, which was called Oakwood Up in Smoke, had a scenario of a farm tile contractor hitting a natural gas pipeline in a field south of Oakwood.

What transpired during the course of the exercise was how each agency that was called into play during this mock disaster would respond. The exercise not only highlighted which agencies would respond, but also what resources they had available and what other agencies they may call on to provide assistance.

The exercise began with the tile contractor calling the natural gas pipeline company’s gas control center and reporting the breach of the natural gas line.

Representatives of Midwestern Gas Transmission Company and its parent company, Oneok Partners had four representatives at the exercise to play out the gas company’s response to such a situation.

Leonard Todd, director of safety for Midwestern Gas Transmission Company, explained how the company would respond to such a call and what resources would be used to determine the exact location of the gas line rupture and to shut down the flow of gas to the area of the rupture.

According to Wayne Armenta, director of operations for Oneok Partners, the company participates in these types of exercises regularly.

“We welcome the chance to work with emergency agencies to help them plan for incidents that we hope will never happen,” Armenta said. “However, if they do happen we are prepared to do whatever it takes to protect lives and property.”

Armenta said the company does these exercises internally on a regular basis so that each employee knows what to do in the event of an emergency.

As the exercise unfolded, each agency that was involved was asked to explain what action they would take and explain that response as well what other agencies they would reach out to for assistance.

John High, assistant chief for the Danville Fire Department, acted as moderator for the exercise.

Other agencies and private sector participants in the table-top exercise were Danville Fire Department, Oakwood Area Fire Protection District, Oakwood Emergency Services, 911 communications center, Air Life Air Ambulance Service, Vermilion County Sheriff’s Department, Vermilion County Highway Department, Vermilion County Coroner’s office, Vermilion County hazmat team, Provena United Samaritans Medical Center, American Red Cross and Illinois Emergency Management Agency.

FYI

On Feb. 28, 2003, President George W. Bush issued a presidential directive that directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop and implement a National Incident Management System (NIMS). The system is designed to provide systematic and proactive approach to guide all levels of government and non-governmental organizations as well as the private sector on how to work seamlessly to prevent, protect against, respond to, recover from and mitigate loss of life and property during incidents.