Emergency Response Drill Conducted at AMSOIL

Superior Fire Department Participated in the Mock Fire and Chemical Leak Training Exercise

SUPERIOR, Wis. – It’s all about being prepared. An emergency procedure drill was conducted at the AMSOIL Distribution Center in Superior Today to make sure emergency responders are ready if disaster strikes.

The emergency response training started when AMSOIL officials called in a drill to Douglas County 911 reporting a chemical leak and fire. Several minutes later, Superior firefighters arrived on scene and learned a new piece of the drill, that one employee was unable to exit the building. That made the exercise an emergency medical situation too.

All agencies involved had to communicate with one another, just like in real life, to learn how to best handle the emergency.

“To have them here and to actually walk through what that relationship will be like and how those hand-offs will occur was pivotal to understanding how it would happen in a real life situation,” said Erica Danielski, AMSOIL Director of Marketing and Public Relations.

The Superior Fire Department would take the lead in that kind of emergency situation. Fire department officials say the drill was a great way to expand beyond their usual training exercises.

“It’s great when we get a business, an industry that wants to do it in real time,” said Battalion Chief Scott Gordon. “Then we are not pre-planned. We don’t know we always stand here, or we’re always going to park there, or the wind always comes from this direction. We have to react as if the site is real and it gives us a great opportunity.”

AMSOIL employees and firefighters were told the drill would happen today, but were not told details about the situation so they would have to react in real time.

Those involved tell us the exercise went very well and accomplished a lot.