Mendocino College prepares for emergencies

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Presenter Lou Madeira leads Mendocino College staff through an all-day training on the National Incident Management System and Standard Emergency Management System.

 


UKIAH – On Sept. 12 and 13, 46 Mendocino College personnel completed an eight-hour session of National Incident Management System / Standard Emergency Management System training.


The workshop was a collaboration involving Mendocino College’s Public Safety Programs, the Superintendent/President’s Office and the Instruction Office.


The active-shooter incident at Virginia Tech created heightened awareness amongst Mendocino College staff of the need to revise their Emergency Preparedness Plan.


Superintendent/President Kathy Lerner met with various constituent groups of the college and made emergency preparedness training and campus safety a priority for students and staff.

 

“Both federal and state laws require community colleges to plan and prepare for all types of disasters in order to ensure the safety of our students, faculty and staff. This includes training under the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and Standard Emergency Management System (SEMS), along with having a compliant emergency operation plan,” explains Lehner.


Guest speakers at the workshops were Mendocino County Sheriff Thomas D. Allman, Mendocino County Emergency Services Coordinator William Woodworth, California Community College Emergency Management Coordinator Dr. Craig Zachlod and instructor Lou Madeira, who also is an adjunct faculty member at Napa Valley College, University of California at Davis, and Mendocino College. In the past year, Madeira has worked for several agencies in seven states related to emergency management/preparedness training.

 

The sessions covered organizing an Incident Command System (ICS) to handle a wide range of disasters. Scenarios that were reviewed included regional flood, light airplane crash, earthquake roof collapse, arson fire and violent active-shooter incident.

 

Since 2006, Mendocino College has taken a lead in presenting seven NIMS/SEMS training workshops in multiple locations to numerous public safety agencies in Mendocino and Lake counties.


For additional information, contact the Mendocino College Public Information office at 468-3012.


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