Norwich University conducts preparedness exercise with local and state-level partners.

Training exercises play a vital role in community preparedness by enabling stakeholders to test and validate plans and capabilities while simultaneously identifying areas of potential improvement. Norwich University met with local and state agencies on July 9th to conduct a comprehensive day of training paired with a tabletop exercise focused on the effective implementation of the NU Crisis Management Manual.

These exercises provide an opportunity to test capabilities, familiarize personnel with roles and responsibilities, and foster meaningful interaction and communication across multiple organizations. The training and exercise were prepared and run by Norwich University Applied Research Institutes (NUARI) with a focus on a multi-jurisdictional response event.

“The objectives for this exercise were focused upon increasing Norwich University’s ability to integrate with regional emergency response partners to execute crisis response plans,” said Chris Tucker, who led the exercise on behalf of NUARI. “Senior participants from several local emergency agencies identified opportunities to increase the resiliency of the community based upon lessons learned from the exercise.”

The nationally recognized NUARI Exercise Team meticulously adheres to the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) guidelines in organizing, designing, and carrying out these modules. NUARI utilized live, in-person instruction and facilitation for exercise control, delivery, and administrative tasks. The annual exercise meets the HSEEP mandated regulation to train response teams and assess the successful use of the Emergency Operations Plan (EOP).

The recent training was intentionally organized with a concentration on the operations and coordination of the NU Emergency Operations Center along with its local and state-level incident response partners. A significant number of essential Norwich employees actively contributed to the event. In addition, there was substantial involvement from various local and state-level entities from across Vermont. The partner organizations in attendance during the exercise included the Vermont State Police, neighboring fire departments, numerous police departments, a range of regional EMS representatives, and local town officials.

The theoretical scenario for the tabletop exercise centered around a localized event requiring activation of multiple local emergency services, the establishment of NU’s Emergency Operations Center, and collaboration with Incident Command to manage the events. 

The training closely aligned with the protocols set by the National Incident Management System (NIMS). The system is instrumental in allowing various levels of government and nongovernmental organizations to collectively collaborate on incident prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery actions. The training highlighted the interconnected responsibilities from several organizations across the central Vermont region.