WILLIMANTIC — Part of being an emergency responder is preparing for the worst.

And most police and fire personnel will say there are few scenarios worse than an active shooter, especially in a school.

Starting this week, Willimantic police have begun training Willimantic firefighters on how to respond to activeshooter scenarios, like the massacre at Newtown in 2012 or Columbine High School in 1999.

It is a situation that, sadly, has become all too common in recent years.

Willimantic Fire Department Chief Marc Scrivener mentioned the training during a Willimantic Service District meeting late last month.

Windham Emergency Management Director/ Fire Marshal Michael Licata said the training is designed to be proactive and prepare emergency responders for events like Newtown, should they occur.

The Columbine High School massacre happened on April 20, 1999 in Columbine, Colo., a tragedy that kickstarted a wave of high-profile shootings that have dominated the news in recent years.

On that day, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, students at the high school, murdered 12 students and one teacher, as well as injuring more than 20 others.

The two individuals committed suicide after the massacre.

“After Columbine and after the movie theater shootings, it became clear that the model of response that police, fire and EMS were using across the country wasn’t working adequately,” said

Scrivener.

He was referring to the July 20, 2012, shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., and the shooting on July 23, 2015, at a movie theater in Lafayette, La.

Scrivener said Willimantic Police Officer Keith Edele will lead two, eight-hour training sessions — one that started Monday and another set for Friday at the Willimantic fire station.

Scrivener noted that, previously, fire and EMS personnel stayed back and waited for police to secure the building before caring for those injured during a mass shooting.

Under that approach, he said, care for the injured and dying is delayed.

“The new approach is that we form rescue task forces which are combined units of police and firefighters and EMS,” Scrivener said.

The members of those task forces, he explained, would have ballistic protective gear, such as helmets and protective vests.

The task forces would go into parts of the building that are secure, even if the entire building is not secure.

“We’re calling it a warm zone,” Scrivener said. “It means that there is still some danger present at some place in the building but at that point in particular, there should be minimal danger because police have provided protection.”

Edele explained a “hot zone” is when there is active shooting going on, while a “warm zone” is in place when the suspect is barricaded or has been killed, either by officers or by suicide.

Edele said that approach is not new and has been used on the West Coast for years.

“We’re trying to catch up with the times,” he said.

Edele noted that Willimantic police officers have been trained to use tourniquets.

He said police were trained about rescue task forces last year.

In addition to training, local firefighters will need new equipment in conjunction with the new approach.

Scrivener said his department has gotten estimates of between $700 and $1,000 per set for the ballistic protective gear such as bullet- proof vests and helmets.

He said the department will first request funding for seven sets of ballistic gear, enough to outfit one squad at a time and later request enough gear to outfit all of the firefighters.

“We will need to have as many bodies working as possible,” said Scrivener.

He said the town manager has requested departments pitch a zeroincrease budget for 2016- 17, but has also asked departments to submit a “wish list.”

The ballistic gear is one of many items on Scrivener’s “extensive wish list,” he said.

Scrivener noted the training is important since Willimantic is in close proximity to two universities, the University of Connecticut and Eastern Connecticut State University.

“We hope this never happens here,” he said. “Seeing as we have two universities in close proximity, we have to be ready. The UConn police and fire departments have already done this.”

Scrivener noted there are also many secondary schools in Willimantic.

Willimantic Taxing District councilman and council president Thomas DeVivo said there needs to be more conversation about how to treat mentally ill people, such as those who are involved in incidents like Columbine and Newtown, where Sandy Hook Elementary School first-graders were slaughtered along with teachers and the principal.

DeVivo said he felt the training was a “move forward” for the Willimantic Taxing District.

“We need to be prepared for all scenarios,” DeVivo said. Funding the initiative shouldn’t be a problem, as Licata said there is money leftover in the training budget that could be used for the training.

Scrivener said generally, it costs an average of $25 per hour, per person for training. Based on that, it would cost about $ 5,600 to train 28 personnel during an eight-hour training day. There are 29 firefighters, including Scrivener.

During the training, firefighters will be taught how to properly respond to an active shooter incident.

Whatever the cost, Willimantic officials say it is worth it.

“It always pays to be prepared and any preparation we can do for anything that may be a far-fetched possibility is worth doing,” said Willimantic Taxing District President Lynne Ide.

———

©2016 The Chronicle (Willimantic, Conn.)

Visit The Chronicle (Willimantic, Conn.) at www.thechronicle.com