Student Chris Turk-Wray, front, walks toward a decontamination area with other victims.

On August 16, Sierra Nevada Job Corps Center (SNJCC) Security students assisted with an exercise on managing an anthrax crisis.  The Biohazard Detection System Full-Scale Exercise allowed emergency responders and agencies to practice their inter-agency coordination when dealing with a dangerous substance in a public area. 

Eight SNJCC students acted as customers in the post office when they were contaminated with anthrax.  The students were evacuated with everyone at the post office to a staging area where they were triaged and underwent a real world decontamination process.  After decontamination, the students were transported with 35 other role-playing victims to the Washoe County Health District to receive treatment for their anthrax contamination.   The five-hour exercise was held at the main branch of the United States Post Office in Reno.  Each student learned valuable information about what to do in a crisis biohazard situation and represented SNJCC well.

The activity was held by participating agencies including the state emergency manager, the United States Post Office, Washoe County Sheriffs Office, Citizens Corps program, Washoe County Hazmat team, Reno Fire Department, REMSA, the Community Emergency Response Team, and the Washoe County Health District.