THATCHER — The area’s public safety departments have been putting themselves through additional — and challenging — training.
Thatcher Police Chief Glen Orr said one of his officers just completed training to be a trainer on how to deal with an active shooter. And the officer will get a chance to show what he’s learned when the area departments hold an active shooter drill at a local middle school, with student actors assisting.
Orr said having the students there will make the training much more impactful.
“It’s something you never experience, when you’ve got to run past kids you know,” Orr said.
Meanwhile Thatcher Fire Chief Josh Curtis said his department recently joined with Safford Fire, Pima Fire and Freeport-McMoRan for a mass casualty incident drill.
“It simulated an acid truck colliding with a van,” Curtis said. “It had some traffic (impact), the van had two people trapped that had to be extricated, there was an acid leak that started a brush fire which caused a structure fire, so it had all kinds of stuff.”
Curtis said the drill took about four hours.
