Littleton fire chief gives tips on fighting terror

Fire chiefs are right at home when it comes to snuffing a raging house fire. But domestic terrorism isn't something many commanders and their crews are properly equipped to handle.

Fire Chief Bill Pessemier learned that lesson the hard way in April when two student gunmen went on a killing spree at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., and his fire department was thrust into the middle of a nightmarish emergency scene.

It wasn't the kind of situation Littleton's firefighters had trained for or even talked about with local police and medical crews, Pessemier said. Now he is passing on the results of a lesson learned to other fire commanders from around the country as part of a new series of training courses sponsored by the Justice Department.

Pessemier is convinced communications is the key component to being ready for the next outbreak of homegrown terrorism.

"There were a lot of things that the different emergency agencies in Littleton hadn't talked about before Columbine, but we're talking a lot about it now," Pessemier told fire chiefs meeting at the Orleans hotel-casino. "Having strong relationships between the fire and police departments and emergency medical crews is essential in dealing with domestic terrorism."

Pessemier said he has been busy opening dialogues with Colorado law enforcement agencies, school officials, paramedics and city municipalities in an effort to be better prepared for future emergency situations.

Pessemier's comments kicked off a five-day course on weapons of mass destruction incident command operations, which will provide senior police, fire and medical personnel with classroom information and field exercise experience in dealing with terrorist activities.

The weeklong course is one of 11 training classes that the Justice Department has invested $3 million in, said David Harrison, domestic preparedness manager for Betchel Nevada, the government contractor that is running the class.

"Three of the 11 courses will be held in Las Vegas because of the training area we have at the Nevada Test Site," Harrison said. "This week's course is basically for chiefs and people who could be in charge at these large scale incidents, and it's designed to give them a basis on how to handle these situations."

The group will participate in lectures and seminars for the first two days of the course before moving out to the Test Site to run through mock incidents including bomb threats and chemical and biological weapon simulations.

Las Vegas Fire Chief Mario Trevino related Las Vegas' own bout with terrorism that occurred in February 1998.

Two men believed to have anthrax elements were arrested in the scare outside the Royal Center of Advanced Medicine at 2501 N. Green Valley Parkway, Henderson, and their vehicle, which was believed to have anthrax in it, was sealed and taken to Nellis Air Force Base for inspection.

"We were lucky because we got the chance to evaluate our preparedness for these types of situations in 1998," Trevino said. "It gave us the chance to evaluate our response without having any fatalities."

Coordination, flexibility, adaptability and prevention are all important parts of what emergency response crews need to practice when dealing with domestic terrorism, Pessemier said.

The Clark County School District's new zero tolerance stand against harassment and hazing is a good step toward prevention of factors that can lead to an incident like Columbine, Pessemier said.

"Every little bit helps," Pessemier said. "I don't think there is one cause for something like this. It's probably more like a dozen causes all coming together, but any type of prevention that schools and other agencies can put out there is worth doing."

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