On Sunday Dec. 4, 2016, multiple agencies, including several East County fire departments, joined together to train for an active shooter incident.

“It’s an incident that we all hope never happens,” Grays Harbor Fire District 5 Chief Dan Prater said.

Grays Harbor Fire Districts 5, 2 and 1, with the City of Elma and Montesano Fire Department personnel worked together for hands-on training with law enforcement agencies from throughout Grays Harbor County and state agencies such as Washington State Patrol, Fish and Game and state parks at Elma High School.

“The training drill provided some great opportunities to have not just the different fire and EMS response agencies to work together but also have the fire and law enforcement agencies to work together on joint incident command and operations,” Prater said after the training. “Most personnel involved on the fire side had not been involved in this type of training drill before and it allowed personnel to develop skills to help evaluate and rescue victims in the quickest and safest manner possible. The success of this event couldn’t have happened without the support of each and every department that was involved.”

The agencies hoped the training would help build preparedness countywide, not just in East Grays Harbor County.

An additional training at Elma High School is planned for Dec. 18.

Similar trainings have been held at Aberdeen and Central Park.