Mobile County EMA Officials Planning Mass Evacuation Drill

Mar 9th, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MEDIA CONTACT:
February 22, 2007 R. Steve Huffman
Release # (EMA-2007-03)

MOBILE COUNTY EMA OFFICIALS PLANNING MASS EVACUATION DRILL

Various city, county and state agencies in Mobile will be participating in a Transportation/Evacuation Table Top Exercise conducted and hosted by Mobile County Emergency Management Agency (MCEMA). The exercise will take place at the Agency’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) located at 348 North McGregor Avenue, on Monday, March 12, 2007 beginning at approximately 9:00 a.m.

The Table Top Exercise is a dress rehearsal of sorts in preparation for a Transportation/Evacuation Functional Drill that will take place on Thursday, March 29, 2007 in the Trinity Gardens Community.

Both scenarios will involve a Hydrochloric Acid spill, caused when a pick-up truck runs into a tanker truck that is traveling on I-65 Service Road near 1st Avenue in the Trinity Gardens Community, which will require officials to evacuate a select portion of the community to shelters.

The purpose of the drill is to test the ability of agencies to evacuate the community using various modes of transportation which include The Wave Transit System and Mobile County School System Buses. MCEMA plans to use the same method and modes of transportation in the event of a hurricane or other hazards that require the evacuations of a large amount of people.

The drill will also test the coordination and notification process, the opening of shelters, setting up and operating pick-up stations and sounding of the emergency sirens. The point of doing exercises of this type is to find out where shortfalls are ahead of time, so officials can fix them.

Officials have been meeting with Trinity Gardens Community Leaders to get those in the community to encourage them to actively participate in the mass evacuation. Officials are also soliciting the help of 100-200 volunteers to participate as well.

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