By Jesse Major
Peninsula Daily News
CARLSBORG — It’s only a drill.
First responders will practice how to react to a worst-case scenario from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. today at Greywolf Elementary School, 171 Carlsborg Road, during an active shooter mass casualty training drill.
“We hope nothing like this will ever happen, but we need to be prepared just in case it does,” said Sgt. Randy Pieper of the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office.
Most of the day, there will be heavy police activity around Greywolf Elementary, but people shouldn’t be alarmed, Pieper said.
The drill will involve role players portraying casualties and witnesses, and will give first responders, school and hospital personnel hands-on training.
Most of the activity will be concentrated around the school, but people will see ambulances going between Olympic Medical Center and the school, Pieper said.
The drill is not open to the public, and school operations are closed for the training.
All schools within the Sequim School District will be in modified lockdown during the drill and won’t be open to the public.
In addition to Greywolf Elementary, Helen Haller Elementary School, Sequim Middle School, Sequim High School, Olympic Peninsula Academy and the district office will be closed.
The training drill is a product of an inter-agency group that includes law enforcement instructors, fire personnel, medics, school faculty from different school districts, Peninsula College, Olympic Medical Center, Red Cross, Clallam County Emergency Services, Olympic Ambulance, Clallam Transit, Forks Community Hospital, Clallam County Road Department and state Department of Transportation.
Law enforcement agencies in the group, which began meeting in January, include the Sequim Police Department, Port Angeles Police Department, La Push Tribal Police Department, Neah Bay Public Safety, U.S. Border Patrol, Elwha Tribal Police Department, Washington State Patrol, Olympic National Park and Clallam County Sheriff’s Office.
There will be a detour in front of the school on Carlsborg Road, which will include staffed traffic control. The state Department of Transportation will have signs and travel advisories posted on U.S. Highway 101 in the area near the school.
The drill is part of a statewide mandate for all schools to conduct mass casualty drills.
