Derby emergency responders and their plans to keep you safe were put to the test last week during a two-day disaster drill.
The drill started with a all-day classroom exercise in the bottom floor of Derby City Hall Friday.
A slew of local and regional agencies participated.
In addition to local fire, police, EMS and Emergency Management, state police, Griffin Hospital, Derby DPW, the Red Cross, the school district, Naugatuck Valley Health District, the state DEP and All Star Transportation (a school bus company) all participated.
They were asked to consider a scenario — a mechanical malfunction at Suburban Propane on Water Street causes a 10,000 gallon propane tanker truck to flip on its side.
The tanker starts leaking.
The smell of propane is heavy on Water Street, Main Street and across the Housatonic River on Howe Avenue in Shelton.
The scenario imagined that a large section of Derby would have to be evacuated — including two schools (Irving and St. Michael-St. Mary’s) and the police department itself. In addition, Route 8 and Route 34 are both shut down to the leak.
For several hours, William Seward of the state’s Fire Academy and Ray Crowley of the state’s Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security walked the groups through the scenario almost minute by minute.
They quizzed each group about their emergency plans — and how the plan for one group fits into another group’s plan.
Storm Engine Assistant Chief Thomas Lenart, Jr. said the large-scale training was the first of its kind in Derby. Getting so many groups in the same place and on the same page was invaluable, Lenart said.
Day two of the drill involved simulating a tanker leak.
A smoke machine next to a Suburban Propane truck was set up in the parking lot across from Calvert Safe and Lock.
Derby fire department members, with support from Shelton EMS and the Derby Office of Emergency Management, were trained on how to deal with the tanker.
Next they set up just-purchased a decontamination shower.
Then Stephen Arvan, the operations manager from Suburban Propane, walked firefighters through the mechanics of a 500-gallon propane tank.
Finally, Arvan and the firefighters burned off about 250 gallons of a propane as part of the training.
Click the video to see highlights from the second day of training.
