Wednesday, members from more than six Pearl River County first responder agencies met in Poplarville to hear from MEMA representatives about planning a future law enforcement training exercise.
Represented agencies included the Poplarville Fire Department, Poplarville Police Department, Pearl River County Sheriff’s Office, Mississippi Highway Patrol and Mississippi Wildlife and Fisheries.
Todd DeMuth, Director of MEMA’s Exercise Office of Preparedness said during his briefing that it is critical for all first responder agencies to work together in the event of an emergency situation.
Poplarville Fire Chief Bobby Strahan said area first responders will be testing their National Incident Management System during the planned exercise.
According to www.fema.gov, NIMS is an organized, proactive approach guiding local departments, governmental agencies, nongovernmental organizations and the private sector to seamlessly work together and manage incidents involving all threats and hazards.
The website states that when communities utilize NIMS, they are part of a comprehensive national approach that improves the effectiveness of emergency management and response personnel across the full spectrum of potential threats.
“We have three main objectives,” Strahan said. “First we will be testing NIMS across the spectrum. Secondly, we will handle working our commands together and lastly, we will be testing response and how well we are able to communicate together across the spectrum.”
Strahan said this will be an exercise that will ensure everything is in working order and everyone is on the same page.