The West Virginia National Guard and West Virginia University have a unique opportunity for mass transit police and first responders to take part in a brand new FEMA approved onsite training course pilot. Improvised Explosive Device (IED) Response on Mass Transit and Passenger Rail Systems (DOD-007-RESP) is a 3 day course that includes classroom, tabletop, and full exercise training that introduces and enhances your current skills in IED response. The jewel of this training is the 2800 foot Center of National Response Memorial Tunnel in West Virginia.
Often called the Disneyland for first responders, the Tunnel is a training venue that offers a realistic disaster setting equipped with subway cars and station and a myriad of conditions including daylight, darkness, wind, flames, smoke and other emergency challenges requested by you
The Tunnel is used as a training center for the National Guard for military and joint operations in counterterrorism, WMD events, and civil response, and has trained first responders from New York, Boston, Seattle, North Carolina, and Atlanta, among many others.
The tuition for this distinctive training is $2,212.00. You are entitled to be accompanied by a coworker at no additional charge. Lodging for both you and your coworker is included. Lodging and meals for both you and your coworker is included. The April 17-19 pilot course is filled, but the May 8-10, 2012 final pilot course is still open. This training was designed to satisfy TSA’s requirements drawn from the Office of Domestic Preparedness Universal Task List and is qualified for State Administrative Agency funding. You can go to our website at www.hsp.wvu.edu for more details.
The target audience is Police, Fire, EMS, Emergency Management Agencies, Public Health, Public Works, and Public Safety. This training course can be at the individual, unit, or multi-organization/agency level. After each training day, there will be a “hot wash” conducted to get your input on the day’s events.
If you are interested in participating in this new pilot course or if you have any questions concerning the course, please feel free to contact me at Joan.Caridi @mail.wvu.edu or 304-293-1455.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Joan Caridi
This training is a wonderful way to begin safety of any future real high-speed rail operation. As genuine future high-speed rail will require geographical tunnel construction to keep the rail routes level and straight to accomodate very fast speeds in the range of 220 to 300-mph, first responders to accidents will have to aquire the skill to quickly assist. One area of high-speed rail planning that has not been addressed to the general populous by the media is just this so important first responder future function. High-speed rail is basically an airway speed transit on the ground! Potential passengers will have travel confidence if they know highly trained first responders are available at any point on the route. I believe this is a fantastic training program.