AT&T, Lake County hazmat teams up for training

It’s a dress rehearsal of sorts. “For us it’s about maintaining preparedness,” said Kelly Morrison of AT&T‘s Network Disaster team.

The team travels around the country to train with emergency response teams from large cities like Chicago and Houston to smaller, more rural areas.

The network isn’t the same everywhere, so it’s important to practice all around the country, Morrison said.

On Aug. 2, the Network Disaster Recovery team trained with the Lake County Hazardous Materials Team at the AT&T network facility at 38043 Third St. in Willoughby.

Lake County’s hazmat team is comprised of members of just about every fire department in the county, Wickliffe Fire Chief Jim Powers said. The team trains once

a month.

T his is the first time Lake County’s Hazmat team has worked with AT&T’s team.

“It’s everything for us,” Powers said. “We need to be proficient when the real thing happens.”

That can’t happen if you don’t drill, he added.

Morrison said in addition to helping AT&T stay prepared, they also learn local responders’ needs.

The teams performed two tasks together. The first involved checking gas readings and the condition of the battery in the generator/battery area in the basement of the building. The second involved simulating a chemical spill and checking radiation levels.

The Lake County Hazmat unit also had the chance to practice an emergency extraction from one of the hazmat suits. Morrison said this was a rare opportunity as the suits are expensive (and the process of cutting them open to simulate an emergency situation destroys them), but they had a suit nearing the end of its lifespan.

“It’s another example of inter-cooperation between private and public agencies for the benefit of the community,” Powers said.

Working with AT&T is no different than working with Lubrizol or another large company in the county, he added.

“It’s not only important to keep the community safe, but also to keep businesses in operation,” Powers said. “Anything we can do, we’ll help out.”