GEORGETOWN — Police Chief David Sedgwick and Fire Chief Matt McKay announce that the Georgetown Police and Fire Departments and Georgetown Dispatch completed Active Shooter Hostile Event Response (ASHER) Training on Saturday, July 27.
The training was conducted at Georgetown Middle High School and was held to reinforce important teamwork and communication skills among the departments during a high-risk response.
Georgetown Police, Fire, and Dispatch ran through several scenarios throughout the day, practicing vital intercommunication skills to be ready for unexpected instances such as an active shooter.
Participants of the drill wore ballistic safety gear, including vests. Georgetown Police officers were also equipped with simulation guns.
Georgetown Police was tasked with finding the mock threat by safely clearing rooms, communicating, and establishing a warm zone once the threat was neutralized. Police then escorted firefighters into the warm zone as a Rescue Task Force to assess and attend to mock injuries.
The training was focused on improving skills and understanding roles and responsibilities during a crisis and was led by members of the Topsfield Police Department including Chief Neal Hovey, Capt. Dan Bell, Officer Chris Lippi, and Officer Sean Wlasuk.Georgetown Police instructors included Sergeant Phil Klibansky, Officer Dean Julien, and Dispatch Supervisor Keenan Leonard-Solis. Georgetown Fire instructors included Captain Bret Moyer and FF/EMT Nolan Godfrey.
The Departments thank the Georgetown Public Schools for allowing them to conduct this training at their facilities.
“Thank you to all of our participants for their professionalism and commitment to the safety of our community,” said Chief McKay. “This exercise allows our departments to collaborate and practice crisis scenarios to the fullest extent, which includes thorough communication. Continuously training and collaborating with our public safety partners is essential to keeping our community safe.”
“While we plan to prevent these situations from ever occurring, it’s also important that we continuously adapt and improve to ensure that our community is safe,” said Chief Sedgwick. “We are actively improving our crisis management and response as a department and as a town.”
