TORRINGTON – On May 25 and 27, Goshen County first responders participated in two separate exercises with Cheyenne and Casper fire teams and the 84th Civil Support Team of the Wyoming National Guard.

The reason for the exercises was to establish and refine the partnership between local, state and federal agencies. It is a way for them to see how the various agencies would respond to Torrington in the event of a real-world scenario and allows the first responders to gain experience working with people from various agencies. 

“This is an exercise which involves all the layers of emergency response in the state,” Chuck Kenyon, Torrington Emergency Manager, said. “We start with local authorities and when the local capacity is reached, then you call the state, and they’ll send one of the Regional Emergency Response Teams (RERT). When the situation exceeds the capability of the RERT, then the call goes out for the 84th Civil Support Team (CST) with the Wyoming National Guard.”

Doing these exercises and working them from the ground up is a good way for the various organizations to work together and to understand the role the various agencies play in the event of an emergency situation.

The exercise on the 25th was a simulated hazardous materials dump in the city of Torrington. A patrolman from the Torrington Police Department noticed the materials dumped in a suspicious location. After finding the hazardous waste, the officer calls it in, and it is then directed up the chain of command and the RERT from Cheyenne is called out when emergency responders in Torrington are unable to handle the situation.

In order to call for the RERT, the call needs to be made through homeland security at the state level who will then dispatch the RERT. Once they arrive on the scene, they will also survey the area and investigate the barrels for hazardous material.

Once it’s determined the RERT is unable to deal with the hazardous material alone, a call is made for the CST from the Wyoming National Guard to be dispatched to the scene and conduct an investigation and safely dispose of the hazardous waste.

“We just do these exercises with first responders to sharpen our skills with training and to work with the folks we’d end up working with if something did happen,” said 84th CST Commander Paul Leoni. “We try to complete about eight exercises a year, and with Wyoming being as big as it is, we try to hit as many counties as we can each year.”

The exercise on Thursday, May 27, involved the same players, but instead of just the RERT response team from Cheyenne, the RERT response team from Casper was also on the scene during this exercise.

While this exercise also dealt with biohazard materials, it was slightly different than the first exercise. This one was simulating the discovery of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) which were simulated as chemical and biological weapons.

The response forces had to go inside the building to investigate the WMD’s and ensure the safety of the city and the people in the surrounding communities.