A SusanvilleStuff Photofeature
by Jeremy Couso
The scene was one that you never want to experience in real life – and in a way it was quite surreal standing in the same hallway where I went to school thirty years ago, watching as police stormed the building, stepping over bodies of students that littered the floor, and made their way toward an active shooter in a classroom. It was part of a massive full-scale training exercise held on the campus of Lassen High by the Susanville Police Department Monday, and included hundreds of participants from area law enforcement, fire and emergency medical agencies.
The daylong exercise, which was conceived and orchestrated by Susanville Police Detective Nate Horton, simulated several different scenarios involving violence on the campus. Observers included staff and administrators from county schools who got a firsthand look at the horror of a school shooting.
Fake wounds were applied to student volunteers with movie effects makeup by Mountain Lifeflight Chief Flight Nurse Dana Anderson who explained that the bruises, gunshot and knife wounds all needed to be as accurate as possible to train first responders to assess injuries while moving through the ‘warm zone.’
The ‘warm zone’ is a relatively new concept in active shooter situations that came about as a result of the Columbine school shootings where it was later determined that several students died from their wounds while waiting for medical to be cleared to enter the building. Now the focus is to clear a path for EMS and fire as quickly as possible.
“Stop the shooting, then stop the bleeding,” explained Police Chief Tom Downing.
The term ‘warm zone’ refers to the building not being completely cleared but that officers have established a safe entry and exit point for fire and EMS to go to work triaging patients.
The morning training session was comprised of a series of short scenarios giving officers a chance to practice entering the building and eliminating the danger to students and staff. The afternoon exercise was campus wide and involved a shooting incident that began in the school’s 100 building and a running gunfight in the 700 building.
We have more photos from Monday’s training in our gallery at SusanvilleSnapshots.com. Click here to see them all.
We have more photos from Monday’s training in our gallery at SusanvilleSnapshots.com. Click here to see them all.
