"The staff took on their roles quite well and made decisions which are difficult to make with unclear information, and incomplete information," Morgan said. "They took what they had and they really worked to try and solve the problem, so I know that Story County is much better prepared should we have this kind of an event happen."
The exercise took place at the Story County Emergency Operations Center (EOC), and saw roughly 40 participants respond.
Morgan said the exercise was five years in the making, and finally allowed the participants to experience what a full-scale disaster situation would be like from a control center.
"The purpose of the Emergency Operations Center here in Nevada is to provide resources to the leadership within a community that's been hit by a disaster," Morgan said. "For us to be able to do that, we needed to train up staff which we have been doing over the past five years."
According to Morgan, the exercise was the first time the Story County EMA activated short notice for the staff to come into the operating center and provided a scenario for them to manage. In addition to testing the way the staff interacted with leaders in the community, Morgan said the exercise also tested the way that staff interacted with each other in a high-stress situation.
Morgan said all the staff received was a text to come into the Emergency Operations Center, and from there, they received more information and were tasked to manage the scenario. Ultimately, Morgan said he thought his staff performed well, but that the exercise also exposed some holes that still needed to be filled.
"There was an awful lot that was learned in this, even within my position as the emergency manager, just being able to manage the amount of information that was coming in," Morgan said. "We're going to go back and look at some of our processes, but overall it was very successful."
The exercise included multiple areas of Story County public service, including the Sheriff's Office and the Board of Supervisors. According to Supervisor Rick Sanders, the exercise was exactly the type of test the county needed.
"Before (Wednesday) we had the bliss that comes with ignorance of not knowing how much we've got to do to get ready for something like this," Sanders said. "We now have a really good understanding of the kind of things that will come at us, and now it's up to us to make sure that we put the infrastructure and the processes in place to be prepared if something like this happens."
As with Morgan, Sanders thought the participants responded well to the exercise, but it also exposed some spots that could definitely be improved upon.
"It showed me that we need to make sure we're doing a better job communicating between the Emergency Operation Center and our public information officer, and that the Board of Supervisors is prepared in its function to be able to allocate resources," Sanders said.
Though Morgan said he does not have another full-scale exercise planned in the near future, he said his staff is working on improvements, and hopefully will be able to respond smoothly, if the time were to come.
"This kind of work will definitely make us better prepared," Morgan said. "You're never truly prepared for something the size of Joplin, (Missouri's tornado in 2011) but that is what we strive for. To be able to quickly mobilize the resources we need, we need to be able to respond to something that happens that quickly and of that magnitude."
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