WEBVTT 00:04.240 --> 00:06.407 Well really , I wanted to see what was 00:06.407 --> 00:09.080 here and see the operation joe whitaker 00:09.080 --> 00:11.470 or you may has talked about it quite 00:11.470 --> 00:13.637 often and I thought it would be a good 00:13.637 --> 00:15.859 opportunity to really see it . I didn't 00:15.859 --> 00:18.192 really appreciate what's here . Oh yeah , 00:18.192 --> 00:20.359 I'm thrilled to death . It's just , as 00:20.359 --> 00:22.470 I say , an amazing facility . I don't 00:22.470 --> 00:24.692 think the people of indiana erratic , I 00:24.692 --> 00:26.748 really appreciate what's here . Uh , 00:26.748 --> 00:28.970 they've been in the control center and 00:28.980 --> 00:31.313 most of them have been in there working , 00:31.313 --> 00:33.390 but everything we've seen just been 00:33.390 --> 00:36.510 amazing . Oh , I think , I think it 00:36.510 --> 00:38.677 would be a great thing if they had the 00:38.677 --> 00:40.788 opportunity to just see what's here . 00:40.940 --> 00:44.000 See all of the advantages and the 00:44.010 --> 00:45.954 things that have been arranged for 00:45.954 --> 00:48.130 catastrophes that we could face at any 00:48.130 --> 00:50.410 time . Well , it's always a worry . I 00:50.410 --> 00:52.632 mean , you know , it's a tornado zone . 00:52.632 --> 00:55.790 Uh it seems like lately , Oklahoma and 00:55.790 --> 00:58.520 southwest has gotten more , but we've 00:58.520 --> 01:00.742 been a prime suspect of tornadoes for a 01:00.742 --> 01:03.380 long time . Of course fire is always a 01:03.380 --> 01:05.880 possibility . Uh We have three story 01:05.880 --> 01:08.830 buildings in our downtown , so fire 01:08.830 --> 01:11.230 training is important also and you 01:11.230 --> 01:13.590 never know when you have a catastrophe 01:13.590 --> 01:15.980 with a tanker , hazardous materials , 01:16.070 --> 01:18.860 things like uh we've set in the classes 01:18.860 --> 01:20.638 before we sit in a classroom to 01:20.638 --> 01:22.693 actually get boots on the ground and 01:22.693 --> 01:25.020 and on hand experiences prices very 01:25.020 --> 01:27.076 much so and I'd like to do that more 01:27.076 --> 01:29.076 often . Tell you the truth . I mean 01:29.076 --> 01:31.242 once a year is fine , but uh this is a 01:31.242 --> 01:33.131 facility that it's tremendous for 01:33.131 --> 01:35.298 trading tremendous . Uh at least twice 01:35.298 --> 01:37.520 a year as far as I'm quarterly wouldn't 01:37.520 --> 01:39.520 hurt my feelings to be able to send 01:39.520 --> 01:41.576 some of our people down in different 01:41.576 --> 01:43.742 areas of different elements from our , 01:43.742 --> 01:45.909 from our E . M . A . R . As far as the 01:45.909 --> 01:48.242 fire police , uh , even , you know , uh , 01:48.242 --> 01:50.464 animal care , that type of thing . Uh , 01:50.464 --> 01:52.742 that's gotta talk . I'll tell you what , 01:52.742 --> 01:55.350 you cannot beat this facility . We were 01:55.350 --> 01:57.406 down here last year for the national 01:57.406 --> 01:59.572 over exercise and we have done nothing 01:59.572 --> 02:02.260 but talk this place up . There isn't 02:02.260 --> 02:04.440 enough money in our communities back 02:04.440 --> 02:06.440 home in the district . We have mine 02:06.440 --> 02:08.662 counties in our district . There is not 02:08.662 --> 02:10.607 enough money even if you bring all 02:10.607 --> 02:12.607 those counties in together that can 02:12.607 --> 02:14.829 simulate what you guys have down here . 02:14.829 --> 02:17.000 Exercise wise , I'm funding wise , you 02:17.000 --> 02:19.120 can't buy this type of training . The 02:19.130 --> 02:21.910 facilities that are down here are just 02:22.140 --> 02:24.960 outrageous . They are point on to what 02:24.960 --> 02:27.270 we are trying to exercise our boots on 02:27.270 --> 02:29.540 the ground folks with and there is no 02:29.540 --> 02:31.850 place else like it that I know of than 02:31.850 --> 02:34.320 I've been to . Okay . The reason we 02:34.320 --> 02:36.542 chose this exercise , two reasons why . 02:36.542 --> 02:38.542 Um , we came down last year for the 02:38.542 --> 02:40.542 national level exercise , which was 02:40.542 --> 02:43.530 earthquake . Um , base this year was a 02:43.540 --> 02:46.770 tornado based um , in all honesty , 02:46.770 --> 02:48.881 hopefully knock on wood . We're going 02:48.881 --> 02:51.590 to see more tornado based stuff than we 02:51.590 --> 02:55.430 are earthquake related . Thanks case in 02:55.430 --> 02:57.740 point . We're just deployed full task 02:57.740 --> 03:00.250 force to new , peaking in Henryville 03:00.640 --> 03:03.720 last month for real life stuff . Okay , 03:03.720 --> 03:05.664 so that gave us a taste of what to 03:05.664 --> 03:07.720 expect . The other reason we're down 03:07.720 --> 03:09.998 here , why we choose this ? There were , 03:09.998 --> 03:11.887 there were a number of folks that 03:11.887 --> 03:13.998 backed out at the last minute to come 03:13.998 --> 03:15.887 here because they did play in the 03:15.887 --> 03:18.053 tornadoes in real world tornadoes , we 03:18.053 --> 03:20.410 can't afford to back out again . Going 03:20.410 --> 03:22.632 back to the original question was gotta 03:22.632 --> 03:25.080 tuck . We have so many new folks in our , 03:25.090 --> 03:27.090 on our task force . We want to make 03:27.090 --> 03:29.034 sure they got the training and the 03:29.034 --> 03:31.146 exercise to come down here and play . 03:31.146 --> 03:33.201 We're only supposed to be here three 03:33.201 --> 03:35.368 days . We're paying for our fourth day 03:35.368 --> 03:37.312 coming out of our money because we 03:37.312 --> 03:39.534 think it's that important for our boots 03:39.534 --> 03:41.423 on the ground folks , they get an 03:41.423 --> 03:43.646 opportunity to come down here , see the 03:43.646 --> 03:45.701 setup and be able to play four years 03:45.701 --> 03:47.757 ago , five years ago when we brought 03:47.757 --> 03:49.979 this concept , this idea to our folks , 03:49.979 --> 03:52.090 our first responders back home , they 03:52.090 --> 03:54.090 were all over , they were excited , 03:54.090 --> 03:56.146 This is great stuff . Okay , this is 03:56.146 --> 03:58.201 what we want to do . They get out of 03:58.201 --> 04:00.090 their normal rut , they're normal 04:00.090 --> 04:02.201 everyday operational stuff . They get 04:02.201 --> 04:04.312 to go in a little bit of larger scale 04:04.312 --> 04:07.620 and play large scale 04:07.620 --> 04:10.840 rescue fire E . M . S . Law enforcement 04:10.840 --> 04:13.720 stuff Were able to take that enthusiasm . 04:13.720 --> 04:15.664 The boots on the ground folks that 04:15.664 --> 04:17.831 we're down here that were grinning ear 04:17.831 --> 04:20.053 to ear because they just saw some stuff 04:20.053 --> 04:22.220 they were able to do , some stuff that 04:22.220 --> 04:22.040 we've never been able to do . They 04:22.040 --> 04:25.130 brought that enthusiasm back home and 04:25.130 --> 04:28.110 our roster for the task force has grown 04:28.110 --> 04:31.270 almost 100% . The only thing I can add 04:31.270 --> 04:34.320 is , again , we we try all the time to 04:34.320 --> 04:37.830 explain how this facility is set up and 04:37.840 --> 04:40.420 and what there is to offer . We tell 04:40.420 --> 04:43.100 our folks in and I stood in our task 04:43.100 --> 04:45.100 force meeting a couple of weeks ago 04:45.100 --> 04:47.211 trying to explain this facility and I 04:47.211 --> 04:49.211 finally just told him for the folks 04:49.211 --> 04:51.322 that haven't been down here . I can't 04:51.322 --> 04:53.480 explain what is available to you down 04:53.480 --> 04:55.647 here . The only way for you to realize 04:55.647 --> 04:57.480 that is for you to come down and 04:57.480 --> 04:58.160 experience that yourself .