Early Saturday morning while most citizens were rising, planning shopping trips or rolling over for another hour of rest, emergency responders from throughout Monroe County descended on the Waterloo Sportsman’s Club to conduct an emergency exercise.

The exercise was in planning for several months, and Monroe County Emergency Management Agency Director Ryan Weber confided that he had slept little in the days leading up to the event – massaging, re-imagining and fine-tuning plans.

It brought together some 80 participants from the following agencies: Monroe County EMS, Columbia EMS, various EMA personnel, Valmeyer and Columbia police, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department and firefighters from Waterloo, Hecker, Maeystown, Columbia, Valmeyer, Red Bud and Prairie du Rocher.

Observers and evaluators from surrounding counties and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency rounded out the assemblage.

The following exercise scenario played out in the heavily wooded areas dotted with several lakes on the 200-acre grounds made available by the Sportsman’s Club: an individual had left his home and could not be located. His wife said he was a veteran who suffered from episodes of post-traumatic stress disorder from combat duty. He might be armed, but intentions were unknown. She said  he had a cell phone, which he was not answering, and was driving the family car when he left.

The man’s car was located at the club by MCSD Deputy Lt. Jim Lansing. He noted an empty gun case and called for back-up, which arrived quickly from the Columbia Police Department. With their support, Lansing deployed with his longtime K-9 dog Sari but quickly lost the subject’s trail near the levee at the end of the lake.

Assembling personnel were divided into three groups centered on groups of fire departments supplemented by law enforcement and emergency medical personnel.

Waterloo Fire Chief Brett Wiegand, the overall exercise commander, gave the groups assignments and instructions and they headed into the field for a search.

Critical to the exercise were Sari and Lansing. Searchers found items of clothing at various places on the club grounds that the missing role-player’s wife had described as possibly being worn by him. As a hat, then a shirt and jacket, were located, the MCSD K-9 team leapt into action to take up a scent trail.  Later, a pair of trousers were located as the teams searched and eventually eliminated one area after another.

Several times, a scent trail led Sari and Lansing through hundreds of yards of dense underbrush and up and down steep terrain. Sari’s energy and enthusiasm belied her nearly 13-year age and impending retirement as two new dogs prepare to take up duty with the department.

She even swam a creek.

“I wouldn’t have had her groomed yesterday if I had known she was going to do that,” Lansing said at the exercise’s end. He added that in a real event, several more K-9 teams would have been brought in.

Events, termed as “injects,” were inserted into the exercise by controllers to add realism and create potential confusion or uncertainty as well. They also taxed personnel strength.

In one “inject,” two rounds of actual shotgun fire were reported.  With the person being sought possibly armed, this gave added weight to security concerns  of searchers.

In another, a simulated neighboring father and son who had heard radio chatter on a scanner arrived and, unknown to participants, entered the search.  But their unofficial participation ended when the “father” fell and broke his ankle, taxing EMS personnel just as such an event would in a real search.

Another “inject” scenario had a pair of children “injured” at the playground, requiring medical assistance. The uncertainty of real camping families who might have been on the grounds was thus accurately simulated.

A cell phone ping reportedly indicated that the original subject sought might be near an area where camper trailers are stored. Law enforcement personnel searched all of them – including one found unlocked – as well as other structures and even woodpiles.

As the exercise clock wound down, Lansing said the subject was in a specific area.

“I trust my dog,” he said.

Finally, the subject was located by searchers. The exercise was slated to be brought to a halt at 11 a.m. and the find was recorded at 10:58 a.m.

As the missing person – a role played by Jeff Biffar of the Hecker Fire Department – emerged under escort by law enforcement personnel who had found him to be unarmed, he told how several searchers had walked very near him, thus confirming how hard it might be to actually find a person in a heavily wooded area.

“They won’t hide out in the open,” a participant noted.

In the “hot wash” afterward as participants and evaluators assembled in the main building, successes and areas to focus on in the future were discussed.  Communication was an issue early on, but improved.  Injecting a mobile communication vehicle was recommended, as well as ways to separate various  radio broadcasts among rescue groups.

As participants enjoyed donuts from Ahne’s Bakery and pizza from Papa John’s and Pizza Hut, they were told how the event went.

A notable success was the rapid, accurate accountability for personnel. This was a lesson learned from a real search last year – and it was executed quickly without having to be “injected” into the exercise.

Overall, evaluators graded the exercise as a success. There was special praise for the coordinated manpower of the fire departments.

“I’d heard rumors that agencies in the county could not work well together. But this morning’s results show that to be untrue. Monroe County’s agencies worked very well together, coordinating their efforts and getting the job done,” one evaluator said.

With continuous training, equipment upgrades and positive leadership, the people of Monroe County can be assured – they are safer because of these efforts.