Politics & Government
Emergency Drill Finds a Few Problems To Correct
Practice drills are meant to uncover issues before a true emergency.
A surprise emergency drill in Temple Terrace uncovered a few issues and questions last week, but officials overall rated the exercise as a success.
The city activated its Emergency Operations Center on Friday morning using the scenario that a tornado had destroyed City Hall and emergency operations had to be moved, the city said in a news release.
About two dozen 911 dispatchers and workers from the city finance and customer service departments were moved to the operations center at Fire Station No. 1 and the Omar Lightfoot Recreation Center, the release said.
Find out what's happening in Temple Terracewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The exercise lasted three hours.
The drill uncovered some phone and computer connection issues and raised question over what to do with damaged equipment and how to handle customer service transactions, the city said.
Find out what's happening in Temple Terracewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
City Manager Kim Leinbach said in the release that drills are conducted to find and resolve such issues before a true emergency. Fire Chief Keith Chapman rated the exercise as a success, the release said.
Because it was a practice event, not every city department was deployed.
In an emergency the city would communicate with residents through news media and its website.