Upcoming Multi-Agency Exercise
On May 2nd & 3rd, the Northeast Washington Interagency Incident Management Team (NEWIIMT) will be hosting its annual multi-agency refresher/exercise at the Spokane Fire Department Training Center, 1618 N Rebecca St, Spokane, WA. This year’s keynote speaker is Washington State Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz. Commissioner Franz will be addressing the team members on May 3rd at 9:15 am.
As part of this year’s training, NEWIIMT members will be involved in a simulated oil train derailment exercise. This exercise is intended to help team members experience the challenges of working alongside other local agency representatives while managing a multi-jurisdictional hazardous material event.
The NEWIIMT is a highly trained group of public safety professionals who are utilized at major incidents in eastern Washington. Team members from various federal, state, county and city agencies are trained to handle any type of incident from wildfires, national disasters or terrorist events. NEWIIMT is also used to plan for large events that occur in the region.
NEWIIMT members are not just fire service personnel. Members from state and county law enforcement and department of health have held positions on NEWIIMT. The team has personnel assigned to specialized duties and is headed up by an Incident Commander.
NEWIIMT is usually deployed to support a local agency when an incident elevates past the capacity of the local agency to effectively manage the particular event.
Members of the team handle all aspects of the incident. Public Information, planning, logistics, safety, operations and finance are all key members involved in managing the complexities of a specific event.
NEWIIMT is overseen by the Northeast Washington Interagency Board of Governors.
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Trooper Jeff Sevigney
Public Information & Motor Officer