Editorial: Training, funding, are vital

Thursday, Sept. 19, 2002 | 9:23 a.m.

Police, firefighters, paramedics and other providers of emergency services converged this morning at Cashman Convention Center. As officials from the U.S. Department of Justice looked on, they participated in a disaster drill.

Preparedness, especially since Oklahoma City and Sept. 11, requires such training and plenty of it. Acquiring the equipment to instantly communicate with all area support services, and then acquiring the skill to expertly use the equipment and coordinate a huge response effort, is the challenge facing emergency crews all over the country. The residents of the Las Vegas Valley, because of exercises such as today's, can feel assured that our hospitals and other emergency service agencies and crews are working diligently to improve their readiness.

Proof of that was evident earlier this month, when the Clark County School District sounded an alert about a vapor at Clark High School and about several students experiencing breathing problems. The valley's 11 major hospitals received immediate word and their crews readied equipment as they had been trained to do. Had the incident escalated -- apparently it was a prank with pepper spray -- the county's Emergency Operations Center would have been activated and all the training its crews have been through would have been demonstrated.

Training teaches emergency services something beyond how to respond. It also reveals what improvements need to be undertaken. The state Public Works Board this week declared that setting aside $8.3 million for a new emergency management operations center in Carson City is a top priority. We agree with that decision, and hope for the same outcome every time that the need for more training, more buildings or more equipment for preparedness is demonstrated.