The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO) teamed up with Flagler County Fire Rescue (FCFR) and Flagler County Emergency Management (FCEM) to conduct a Full-Scale Emergency Response Exercise at the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility on Monday, May 8th.
The mock exercise involved a simulated but unexpected explosion and fire within the Detention Facility’s kitchen at 4:30 p.m. FCSO Detention and law enforcement Deputy Sheriffs joined FCFR and FCEM responding for the real-time “rescue” of people trapped in the burning facility and treatment of injuries while ensuring the facility and inmates remained secured. The “inmates” were role-played by Deputy Sheriffs and Detention Deputies.
Following the exercise, all agencies conducted a joint after-action debriefing to discuss how to improve responses and protocols, areas to improve or difficulties identified to perfect their joint response in the event of a real emergency at the county jail.
“I’m very proud of everyone’s joint response. This was a real test of everyone’s abilities to manage an emergency and our joint incident command and management system,” Sheriff Rick Staly said. “Due to their building designs, jails present unique challenges in emergency response that are not normally found in a community. Our Detention and law enforcement Deputy Sheriffs, paramedics and firefighters did a fantastic job evacuating employees and treating the ‘injured’ while working to ensure inmates stay secure and in the jail with no opportunity to take advantage of a crisis and escape. Although we pray we will never need to respond to a disaster at the jail, we know it can happen. Jail fires have occurred across the country and in 2014 the Escambia County, Florida jail exploded because of a gas leak resulting in inmate deaths, over 100 injuries and 600 inmates being evacuated. Realistic training prepares all responding agencies in advance in case a real emergency arises.”
