Congressional staffers visit CDP campus

A group of congressional staff members visited FEMA’s Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) Monday to see firsthand how it trains responders from across the nation to both prepare for and respond to natural and man-made disasters.

Congressional staff members are employees of the U.S. Congress or individual members of congress.  All members of this group work for representatives who are on the House Committee on Homeland Security – Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery.

The group toured the CDP’s Chemical, Ordnance, Biological and Radiological (COBRA) and Noble training facilities as well as its expansive Advanced Responder Training Complex (ARTC).

At the COBRA Training Facility, they saw how responders (primarily firefighters and law enforcement officers) are taught how to correctly suit up and respond to incidents with toxic and other hazardous materials. At the Noble Training Facility, they learned how responders (primarily medical professionals) learn how to deal with an influx of patients resulting from a mass casualty incident and how to properly protect themselves and their facilities while caring for patients with highly infectious diseases. The tour of ARTC included its multiple training venues, including a street scene with shops, a series of subway cars, and a railcar trainer.

In all, the group spent a little more than four hours on campus.