Be prepared with emergency training

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (KNOP) – Special training, initiated by Nebraska Public Power, is helping the district, as well as the North Platte Fire Department Haz-Mat team and North Platte Haz-Mat Response Inc. to strengthen weaknesses and identify forces to work together in extreme situations, such as an oil spill in the canal.

On Tuesday, 35 people learned in classroom training in the morning and then in a hands-on exercise in the afternoon. Four from the Haz-Mat Response Inc. team, 22 from the NPPD and nine from the NPFD were in attendance.

“We talked about an action plan in the morning. [Then we were] lucky enough to have these booms, deploy them and see how they would work in real time.

Teams simulated an oil spill in the canal on East Walker Road in North Platte on Tuesday.

Windam pointed out the canal’s proximity to the highway and other roads crossing the canal. He added that sometimes cars drive in the canal. Training sessions like this teach teams how to handle spills when they do occur.

“We have to be prepared to handle everything. “

Windham says it’s about being responsible and being a good neighbor, adding that channels are NPPD’s responsibility, and working with other teams, like NPFD and Haz-Mat Response Inc. is a great joint effort, and that they all work very well together.

“And we want to make sure that we thank all the non-NPPD people who came and helped today. We know we can count on them a lot, if and when the time is right. “

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