Viewfinder: When Disaster Strikes

Editor's Note: Some of the pictures contain simulated graphic scenes that may not be suitable for young children.

The Forsyth County Disaster Response Unit (DRU), an advance training group, held one of its many training drill exercises at the on Saturday, May 21.

The DRU team, along with the county Citizens Emergency Response Team CERT), simulated “hands-on” disasters aiding injured victims.

Both units, solely made up of Forsyth County volunteers, range in age from 18 and up.

“They consist of everyday citizens with one goal in mind to help our community and save lives," said Bob Sampson, DRU Certified Coordinator.

Sampson's efforts reach into his own neighborhood, the Chattahoochee River Club, where neighbors and DRU members have put into place their own disaster relief plan.

These responder training sessions included live victims which were moulaged to demonstrate real life scenarios in middle schools, nursing homes, commercial buildings, residential homes and hotels. The injuries on the victims included, burns, compound fractures and head injuries, all which could result from explosions to tornadoes.

During Saturday's event, the responders arrived at each scene to access the victim's injuries and tag them with colored stickers to designate the severity of their individual injuries. This allowed the teams to treat the most severe first, and alert other team members arriving on the scene.  

Public Information Officer David Calabrese said their units have ongoing training sessions and that they stress the buddy system.

“We can’t help anyone if we are not safe and protected ourselves,” he said.

The training sessions last approximately eight weeks to be CERT certified and longer for DRU members.

Calabrese stressed how important it is for the community to know what their group does. “I can help someone who is in an accident on Georgia 400 or anywhere any day of the week because of my training."

Joan Monte, the Planning Section Chief, coordinated the events for every exercise, along with Sgt. Jeff Watson, Operations Commander, and Lt. Jody Chapman, Incident Commander for the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office.

To help out your community or just learn ways to protect your own family in case disaster strikes, click here for more information, under Emergency Management Agency, or contact Lorraine Morris, Emergency Management Coordinator at 770-205-5674 to volunteer.