HOPKINTON — Interim Chief of Police Scott van Raalten and Fire Chief Gary Daugherty Jr. report that the Hopkinton Police and Fire Departments, in partnership with Hopkinton Public Schools, conducted a joint emergency training exercise Saturday at Hopkinton High School and Hopkinton Middle School.
The exercise brought together police officers, firefighters, school personnel and other town public safety personnel to practice responding to critical incidents and operating as a unified team.
The training included six preset simulated emergency scenarios designed to test communication, response procedures and coordination among participating agencies.
Those emergency scenarios included active-shooter training, requiring police to quickly make entry, confront the threat and establish security. Firefighter paramedics, equipped with helmets and vests, then followed immediately once security was established, finding actors posing as wounded victims, providing them treatment and evacuating them from the building.
Approximately 30 police and fire personnel participated in the exercise, with school administrators also present. Hopkinton Public Schools Superintendent Evan Bishop attended the training alongside other school administrators.
The exercise marked the first time Hopkinton Police and Fire have conducted an integrated training exercise of this kind with Hopkinton Public Schools. Both Police and Fire have conducted extensive individual training, but Saturday’s exercise provided an opportunity to work cooperatively through realistic scenarios.
Hopkinton Public Schools thanked the Police and Fire departments for working with administrative staff to make this training possible.
“This is a great collaboration between our Police, Fire and Schools,” said Superintendent Bishop. “We work very closely together. Obviously, this kind of emergency is something we never want to happen here. But it’s important that we work together and go through this training. It’s also really helpful for our staff, police and fire by allowing them to become more familiar with the layout of the buildings.”
The exercise provided police and fire personnel with an opportunity to become more adept at working together amid challenging conditions.
“This is an opportunity for our police and fire personnel to train together, work through different scenarios and make sure we’re prepared to respond as one team when our community needs us most,” said Fire Chief Daugherty.
“We work through a number of different scenarios to see how we respond and to identify any improvements that we can work on,” said Interim Police Chief van Raalten. “These are not scenarios that we ever want to see occur. But we have to be prepared for the worst so that we can best protect our schools.”
The exercise is part of an ongoing effort by Hopkinton’s public safety agencies and schools to strengthen their preparedness and ability to work together during emergencies.
The Hopkinton Police and Fire departments plan to continue their efforts to identify opportunities for additional joint training and exercises, building on the lessons they learned on Saturday.
“This exercise was a great opportunity for our departments to train together and strengthen our partnerships,” said Interim Chief van Raalten. “We look forward to continuing these joint exercises in the future to strengthen our preparedness.”
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