Cherokee County Fire And Emergency Services: Firefighters Train With Civil Support Team

Press release from the Cherokee County Fire and Emergency Services:

June 28, 2021

Cherokee County Fire & Emergency Services trained with the 4th Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team out of Dobbins Air Force Base in Marietta last Friday at the fire department’s training center in Holly Springs.  The Civil Support Team is made up of 22 specially trained Georgia Army and Air National Guardsman.  The 4th WMD-CST is manned by chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) specialists, medical specialist, analytical specialists, communication specialists, administrative specialists and logical specialists. According to Special Operations Chief, Darrell Mitchell, “The Cherokee County Hazardous Materials (Haz-Mat) team worked with the Civil Support Team that responds to Haz-Maz incidences and terrorist events.  The team set up 3 different scenarios at the training center including a radiological incident inside a car, a biological incident inside a building and a chem-bio incident inside a building. The fire department would respond to these incidents first to rescue people who were inside the building and taken them to area hospitals, followed by the Civil Support Team who would collect evidence to make sure the area was safe.” Mitchell also stated that this was the third or fourth time that the fire department has worked with this team at this level.  “The training was effective in a lot of ways because it allowed our firefighters to take an observation role by following everyone around to get the whole picture of what was being done,” added Mitchell.

This press release was produced by the Cherokee County Fire and Emergency Services. The views expressed here are the author’s own.