Ross County Emergency Management Agency Exercise

The Ross County Emergency Management Agency had a full-scale exercise the morning of Wednesday, April 26th, 2023. Kevin Coleman saw them start up the action.

A tanker truck hauling a chemical to the paper mill had crashed at East Main Street and Douglas Avenue, and was leaking an eye-stinging liquid.

But that really didn't happen, and it was being staged at the VA Medical Center to avoid impacting traffic.

Paul Minney is the director of the Ross County Emergency Management Agency. He said they are required by law to hold an exercise every year, and it can be a tabletop exercise, functional exercise (tabletop with some on-scene operations), or full-scale. This year it was full-scale.

Minney oversaw more than a dozen first responders and officials in a meeting room in the Ross County Service Center, linked by phones and two-way radios to crews at three sites: the VA Medical Center, Adena Regional Medical Center, and American Red Cross South Central Ohio Chapter.

With the disaster at East Palestine in recent memory, that brings to mind a similar single rail car problem near the hospital that the EMA responded to a few years ago. They oversaw that controlled burn...and are now freshly exercised for that, or anything else.

Listen to a longer version of Kevin's radio story, and his interview, below.

Kevin Coleman covers local government and culture for iHeart Media Southern Ohio. For stories or questions, contact the iHeart Southern Ohio Newsroom or Kevin Coleman