CDP continues work on community response, EOC training concept

The Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) is continuing to hone a concept it’s been working on for training and exercising select community response agencies and emergency operations centers.

The concept involves as many as three days of targeted training for a community’s disaster response agencies. It’s then followed by a comprehensive exercise which tests how those agencies operate with one another in the community’s EOC.

The CDP first tested the concept in late July when it trained more than 250 responders in Baldwin County, Alabama.

That trial run consisted of three days of virtual instructor-led training on a wide range of topics, including hazardous materials, healthcare, and public information. It was followed by a four-hour exercise, also conducted virtually, which tested the interoperability of representatives from agencies who work in its EOC during a disaster.

The CDP is now coordinating with a major metropolitan area to provide similar training to its response agencies and exercise its EOC.

Lessons learned from that test will help the CDP further refine the EOC training concept.