On Thursday, July 17th at Otter Creek School, 2701 Hopps Road, Elgin, the Elgin police and fire departments, in conjunction with School District U-46 and several area hospitals, will be conducting a joint training scenario involving an active shooter/ mass casualty event. The training scenario will start at 8:00 a.m. with a briefing that will be held in the Walmart parking lot located at 1100 South Randall Road, Elgin. The training scenario is expected to end at 12:00 p.m.
The training scenario will involve approximately 200 role players along with the deployment of both police and fire personnel in response to an active shooter. Personnel will be tasked with
command post operations, casualty collection points, rescue task forces, mutual aid, evacuations, and the treatment of injured within the school and at offsite triage areas.
Additionally, area hospitals will be receiving patients with simulated injuries. One of the many objectives of the training scenario is the deployment of a Rescue Task Force that is designed to allow medical personnel into a "warm" zone, under the armed protection of law enforcement personnel. The Rescue Task Force is then utilized to assess, treat, and evacuate injured persons.
Once the drill is active, access to the grounds of Otter Creek School will be restricted and will remain restricted until the conclusion of the training scenario. The section of Hopps Road between Randall Road and Blume Drive will be closed to the public from approximately 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Media personnel are welcome to observe the training scenario and representatives from both the police and fire department will be available to answer questions. Media personnel are requested to report to the command post at 8:30 a.m located at the Walmart parking lot at 1100 South Randall Road, Elgin and check in with drill administrators.