Boundary County conducting active threat training

If you see a lot of activity at Bonners Ferry High School on Sunday, it’s part of a training exercise by area first responders.

The training, which will run from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., will involve simulated live gunfire, multiple emergency vehicles and more than 40 first responders from Boundary County, county public information officer Andrew O’Neel said.

The public is asked to avoid the area around the high school, including the school parking lots and access roads, Sunday, O’Neel said. In addition, the road behind the school that connects Alderson and Tamarack lanes will be temporarily blocked for about 7 hours Sunday.

The exercise represents the final day of a three-day active-threat integrated response course that will train local law enforcement, emergency medical and firefighting agencies in providing an integrated response to an active shooter threat, O’Neel said.

The course, and Sunday’s exercise, are an effort to train responders from 19 agencies from Boundary County and surrounding areas, the public information officer said.

“The goal of the course is to help emergency responders learn techniques to work together to save more lives, and includes medical training on wound care, stopping bleeding and attending to gunshot wounds for victims who can be helped by immediate care,” O’Neel said.

The course was requested by the Boundary County Sheriff’s Office and is being coordinated by the Boundary County Office of Emergency Management in partnership with the Boundary County School District 101.

It is presented by an instructor team from Louisiana State University’s Academy of Counter-Terrorist Education, and is funded through the Idaho Office of Emergency Management and federal agencies.