You may have noticed additional emergency vehicles in the Town of Essex last Thursday and again this Thursday. Manchester Fire and Police joined Essex Fire and Police for a single-day Active Shooter/Hostile Event Response (ASHER) training program offered on two separate dates, so all personnel had an opportunity to participate.
As part of the program, staff participated in tabletop exercises using game boards, maps, and poker chips to represent personnel, patients, resources, and evolving conditions. These hands-on exercises allowed participants to work through complex scenarios, make critical decisions, communicate with partner agencies, and practice establishing unified command in a controlled environment.
The daylong training also included ASHER incident command, breaching and entry, room clearing, bleeding control, wound care, and patient movement. While the skills were important, the most valuable part of the training was the collaboration among all participating agencies.
As small communities, Manchester and Essex must be prepared to work cohesively—from establishing Unified Command and suppressing a threat to rescuing, treating, and transporting patients.
We are extremely proud of our partnership with Manchester Police, Essex Fire, Essex Police, and North Shore Regional 911. These are incidents we must prepare for—but pray never happen.
