John Knox Village Public Safety
associates take part in regional emergency preparedness workshop
The Pavilion at John Knox Village hosted Homeland Security
officials, FBI, law enforcement officers, first responders, and more on Wednesday as
they received training in responding to a large-scale aviation accident.
The workshop was sponsored by the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA), the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and
the Mid America Regional Council’s Regional Homeland Security Coordinating
Committee. There were around 140 attendees from agencies such as the Federal
Aviation Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Transportation
Security Administration, as well as local sheriff, police and fire departments,
hospitals and airlines.
The goal of the training was to discuss the ability to
coordinate the response to a large-scale aircraft accident between multiple
jurisdictions.
Craig Faith, director of Public Safety at John Knox Village,
helped coordinate and bring the training to The Pavilion. The John Knox Village
Public Safety Department is an integral part of emergency services for the
surrounding area, providing mutual aid with other local fire, law enforcement
and ambulance departments when needed.
“These readiness exercises are essential to all phase of
emergency management. If it is not an aviation incident it will be
something else,” said Craig Faith. “Any exercise, no matter the scenario, helps
us prepare and successfully manage through snow storms, tornado threats and other
everyday small and large emergencies. As always, I was proud to see John
Knox Village Public Safety staff right at home with the best of the best in
emergency management. We had well over 100 years of experience attending
just with our staff.
Stacy Jones, EMS Lead for John Knox Village Public Safety,
this brought him a greater understanding of the large scope of agencies –
local, regional, state, federal and private sector, that would be involved in
an aviation accident, and what is involved in coordinating the response.
“This training was a great opportunity to meet and begin
building relationships with those key players in other agencies,” said Jones.
