Staff Reports
The Bureau of Indian Affairs Navajo Region Office, City of Gallup, and McKinley County are sponsoring a full-scale emergency exercise on Oct. 7. This excerise will provide participants with an opportunity to assess capabilities, plans, policies, and procedures.
It will focus on decision-making, coordination, communication, and intergration with other jurisdictions/organizations during a simulated incident at the federal building located at 301 W. Hill Ave. in Gallup.
The expected outcome of this exercise is to establish a current benchmark for response capabilities and preparedness to incidents similar to this simulated scenario. Lessons learned from this exercise will be incoporated into an improvement plan that will allow jurisdictions and agencies to further plan, organize, equp, train, and exercise.
Citizens can expect to see an increased public safety presence at the Lowes Downtown parking lot (Fifth Street and Aztec Avenue, federal building (301 W. Hill Ave.), Gallup Indian Medical Center, and Rehoboth McKinley Christian Hospital between 8 am and 2 pm Oct. 7.
For the safety of the participants and the public, no public will be allowed to the federal building during the exercise. Hill and Mesa avenues between Third and Fourth Streets will be closed for the duration of the exercise. Fourth Street between Hill and Mesa avenues will also be closed during the duration of the exercise.
This exercise will include particpants (responders, actors, and exercise staff) from the following organizations and agencies (this list is subject to change): Bureau of Indian Affairs Navajo Region Office, Federal Protective Services, Gallup Fire Department, Gallup Indian Medical Center, Gallup Police Department, Guardian Flight/Gallup Med Flight, McKinley County Fire Rescue, McKinley County Office of Emergency Management, McKinley County Risk Management, McKinley County Sheriff’s Office, Rehoboth McKinley Christian Hospital, and University of New Mexico-Gallup Nursing and EMS programs.
For more information on this exercise, contact Gallup Fire Chief Jon C. Pairett at (505) 619-2376 or McKinley County Emergency Manager Adam Berry at (505) 488-3986.
