Waiakea High School will take on the appearance of Ground Zero today — but rest assured, this is only a drill.
In Monday statements, Hawaii County Civil Defense and the Hawaii Police Department described today’s event, respectively, as “a tactical exercise” and “a multi-agency training scenario.”
Between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m., the Hawaii Police Department Special Response Team — the department’s SWAT unit — plus personnel from the Hawaii County Fire Department HAZMAT unit, Hawaii County Civil Defense, Hilo Benioff Medical Center and the Hawaii National Guard’s 93rd Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team will have boots on the ground on campus.
According to the Hawaii National Guard, today’s training will be response to a fictional active shooter and HAZMAT incident.
The public isn’t invited to National Guard training exercises, and there will be no students on campus, according to Hawaii National Guard spokesman Jeff Hickman, who assures the public “we’ll be shooting blanks.”
Police described the exercise as “part of an ongoing training program to ensure that your Hawaii County Police Department is prepared to respond to all the possible threats to your safety on Hawaii Island.”
Lt. Aaron Carvalho of HPD’s Special Response team described the 93rd CST as a special unit that specializes in responses to incidents involving hazardous materials and CBERN, an acronym for chemical, biological, explosive, radiological and nuclear. He said that their specific areas of expertise include “weapons of mass destruction, chemical agents, biological agents.”
The 93rd CST’s Facebook page described its mission as “to support civil authorities at the direction of the governor at domestic (CBERN) incident sites by identifying agents and substances, assessing current and projected consequences, advising on response measures, and assisting with requests for additional support in order to help save lives and minimize property damage.”
The page describes the unit as 22 full-time National Guard personnel, 18 from the Army National Guard and four from the Air National Guard, “who are postured for immediate recall 24/7.”
“Because readiness is central to the mission of the 93rd CST, members are some of the most physically and mentally fit individuals in the guard,” the page said.
Carvalho said police and fire personnel “have a working relationship with the 93rd CST.”
“They come down every year, and they work with fire and police, separately, with our train-ups,” Carvalho said. “And then we do a culminating event, which is the scenario at the end of the training.”
Carvalho said he, other supervisors and planners in the responding agencies are aware of the exact scenario that will play out today, but “the team doesn’t know.”
“It’s an evaluation, right?” he explained. “It’s to go in there blind, responding to a call so we can evaluate the response and see where we can improve or what went well.”
Carvalho said the supervisors know the substance of the HAZMAT incident being responded to, but the police officers, firefighters and actual responders “do not know exactly what they’re responding to until they’re faced with the scenario.”
“We do this kind of role playing until we’re familiarized with the scenario and have actually rehearsed this and have practiced with others who have more expertise in this field,” he said.
Bill Hanson, administrative officer for Hawaii County Civil Defense, said the yearly exercises are held at different locations on island.
“One year at the Edith Kanaka‘ole (Multi-Purpose) Stadium, we had a exercise with the release of some kind of chemical,” Hanson said. “One year, the response was at the Coast Guard cutter Kiska, when she was home-ported here.”
The 93rd CST, has “responded to every natural disaster in the state of Hawaii from 2000 to 2020,” according to their Facebook page, which touts “annual exercises with every county in the state of Hawaii, building relationships with the state and county first responders.”
Today’s exercise at Waiakea is the first in a whirlwind week for the 93rd CST. They’ll have exercises on Maui on Wednesday, then on to Oahu for an exercise on Thursday and another on Kauai on Friday. Four states — Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada, plus Washington, D.C. — have sent National Guard specialists to participate in these training events.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.