Those who took part agreed — while they hope the scenario played out never happens, it’s important to be prepared in the event that it does. 

More than 70 police and fire personnel from around the Verde Valley — representing 14 agencies — were invited to take part in an active shooter drill on Thursday, Jan. 10, at the now-closed Big Park Community School in the Village of Oak Creek. The scenario used was that a shooter had entered the school, shot several students and was then apprehended. The exercise began with first responders entering classrooms to determine if there were any other shooters while those injured were tended to by fire personnel. 

The event was hosted by the Sedona Fire District and overseen by members of Integrated Community Solutions by Active Violence Events. 

“The importance of this is the interoperability of all the agencies working together as a team,” SFD Training Officer Michael Duran said. 

“We have law enforcement, firefighters, dispatch and school principals who are all communicating the same way. In this scenario the shooter has already been apprehended so then the plan is how do we get to those injured before they bleed out?” 

The drill used students from Sedona Red Rock High School’s Student Council and Police Explorer’s program who volunteered to play the part of victims. The were scattered throughout classrooms, with some in the open while others were told to hide under desks or behind doors. In all, 26 students were “shot” in this scenario. 

“We see what’s happening in our society these days with more and more active shooters and mass shootings across the nation,” ICSAVE Director Bruce Whitney said. 

“One of the things we’re trying to do is recognize the fact that in order to save as many people as possible, we can’t do things we’ve done in the past. 

“Before, if there was an active shooter in a school, church or office building, police would go in and respond to the threat but they would not allow fire personnel to go in until the entire structure was clear. That would take a period of time. Unfortunately, during the time, people would bleed out and die.” 

Now, Whitney said law enforcement will still go in and contain the threat but will work in conjunction with fire and emergency medical service personnel to allow rescuers to get to the injured victims even sooner, stabilize them as quickly as possibly and escort them from the building. 

“It’s a very effective system that is now being used throughout the country,” he said. SFD Division Chief Buzz Lechowski took part in the drill and said he was impressed with the teamwork shown between the various agencies — all of which have a common goal in a scenario like the one played out. 

“Most firefighters don’t want to be cops,” he said. 

“But this allows us to see the role reversal and thought process, so we can really empathize with their mission.” 

Lechowski added, “Sadly this is needed. Most of what we do is not the actual response but preparing for it. Hopefully something like this never happens but it’s better to be safe than sorry.” Like Lechowski, SPD’s Lt. Stephanie Foley stressed the importance of working together with other agencies in the event something like this were to happen here. 

“This training provided classroom information and followed it up with scenario-based exercises allowing numerous fire departments, police departments and civilians to work together for a common goal to save lives,” she said. “SPD and SFD are committed to working together to provide our community professionalism while staying current with trainings and trends.” 

The idea of bringing the drill and ICSAVE to the Sedona area came from SFD’s Battalion Chief Jordan Baker and Capt. Eric Lewis. They said with new nationwide training standards — which have included SFD recently purchasing ballistic vests and helmets — this type of drill was necessary. 

“In an event like this, it would require a regional response with numerous agencies, so to be able to take part in training like this and practice in a real-world setting will make us that much more prepared in the event something like this were to happen,” Baker said. Last May, Lewis had an opportunity to go through a very similar drill. 

“The folks from ICSAVE have been able to create a scenario where you’re performing these actions in a compressed time frame and simulated decisions that need to be made,” he said. “They do a good job of making this as realistic as possible.”