Cumberland EMA Performs Successful Emergency Drill At CCHS

Cumberland County EMA’s emergency drill at Cumberland County High School Monday deemed a success.

EMA Director Travis Cole said the drill was part of the emergency personnel’s routines. He said first responders attend tornado and fire drills to help schools update and adjust plans if needed.

“We look for evacuation points to make sure there’s not going to be any conflict with responding agencies and apparatus,” Cole said. “We also look at safety equipment as far as the audible and visual alarm systems in the schools.”

Cole said they also check their accountability program to make sure their system works to account for students in the event of an emergency.

Cole said these kinds of drills benefit both the schools and the first responders. He said it helps first responders become more familiar with schools, and it helps schools improve safety plans in case there are aspects they haven’t thought of.

“Everybody has always done as good of a job as possible because everyone in Crossville and Cumberland County takes the safety of our school kids very seriously,” Cole said. “So it’s been very minor changes that have been needed to be made, everybody has a pretty well-established plan and we just make minor corrections to make it the best as possible.”

Cole said Monday’s drill was a full response drill, which took a little over an hour. He said he wants the public to be aware that not every response is an indicator that something bad has happened, and that it could just be indicative of a training.