A mock fire explosion, response by firefighters, police and additional emergency personnel were part of the live training exercise at the Cloud County Community College Geary County campus Wednesday afternoon.

Junction City Fire Chief Terry Johnson said the drill was initiated by the college to test their preparedness and response efforts. ” We took our part of it to see how our folks would respond and work with what we call a unified command. That’s where all the bodies come together, fire, police, ems, the occupant at the school. Everybody comes together and we figure out what we can do better, what we need to work on. It helps us understand what we’re going to be dealing with on

different levels.”

Johnson noted there was good cooperation between the school and emergency services. The evacuation plans worked well and all the buildings were evacuated in a timely manner.

A pair of students at the school were among the mock victims for the exercise, Krissy Still and Jennifer Schultz. Decorated in fake blood over face and neck for the exercise, Schultz called it an eye-opening experience. “Going in as a secondary education teacher, having this experience, it definitely gives you an opening of what could happen, what to be prepared for or what not to be prepared for.” Still said the experience was real. ” I had real tears because seeing everybody messed up and being a mom, this opens your eyes because anything can happen no matter where you are. It doesn’t matter who you are, anything can happen.

The Lead Math Instructor for the campus, Dr. Gwen Carnes said the exercise went according to plan due to a lot of hard work from outside personnel. The Fire Department, EMS and the instructors here who practice and try as much as possible to prepare for an event like this.”