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Community Disaster Training
Emergency
Responders Train
What would happen if there was a major disaster in our community?
Community leaders from all over Berrien County ask that same
question often and have initiated adoption of new emergency response
plans to handle a host of situations. These plans call for
coordinated efforts between communities and agencies.
 The
most important element of the emergency plans are the people from
many different professions, volunteer organizations and others who
will need to come together to effectively activate, manage and
oversee emergency operations. These are the people who will
know what resources are available, where those resources are and
what specific resources (including manpower) need to be utilized to
handle the emergency at hand.
To that end, effective training, preparation, sharing of
knowledge and resources; and yes, practice is needed and that is
just what is happening in your community. People
from many different avenues are training so that they can be of
utmost assistance and know what to do in a major emergency.
People, to name just a few, like school administrators, radio
operators, firemen, policemen, emergency medical technicians,
utility crews, street and construction workers, city and
township officials and transportation administrators are all vital
elements of major emergency response. 
Community leaders from all over the region met here in Niles
during the month of March in the training room of the Law
Enforcement Complex. They wanted to discuss some aspects of
emergency disaster response in our area. They were able to get
an overview of how each group will function as a team to make what
needs to happen, happen. They were able to get a better and
bigger picture of how every single organization, agency, unit of
government, volunteer, etc. would operate as an integral part of the
emergency response needs of our communities.
The possibility of severe weather emergencies are now coupled
with other types of emergencies such as a possible flu
epidemic and/or possible domestic or international terrorism
situations. Few people would argue that the need to be
prepared to respond to these large scale emergencies has never been
greater.
Representatives from most Niles Township and City of Niles
departments as well as several local agencies including Niles
Community Schools, Dial a Ride, Berrien County Sheriff's Department,
Residential Services, SEMCO Energy, and Niles Amateur Radio
specialists are a few of those who attended the recent training.
Many in attendance also serve on the Niles Agency Coordination Group
(NACG), which has been brought together several times in the past to
manage larger scale emergencies like the natural gas outage several
winters ago and the 2004 tornado that caused widespread damage in
Niles and Niles Township. The concept of making sure training
and planning takes place with members from all of these groups (who
then go back and train others in their organization) helps to
coordinate resources and equipment, increase communication between
agencies, and reduce service duplication which all promotes a more
effective and organized response.
The group also discussed new requirements coming from the Federal
Government that will require most municipal employees, and several
employees of the partnering organizations, to complete a series of
classes by the end of September. These classes are designed to
educate responders on the National Incident Management System (NIMS)
which standardizes Incident Command Strategies, Communication,
Resource Management, and preparedness planning across the country.
It is the hope of leaders from all levels of emergency management
that this coordination will help to reduce many of the problems
which resulted following the devastation on the Gulf Coast. If
there were a major disaster in our community you can feel confident
of the people handling the emergency.
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