By David Harry

Staff Writer

Overall, it was not an enjoyable day for South Portland Police Chief Edward Googins.

“Let’s call it necessary. The events are not enjoyable, there is too much going on,” he said.

Googins was referring to the emergency response drill held last Thursday at Mahoney Middle School where police, firefighters and school department officials responded to a simulated school shooting.

Conducted by Portland-based Weaponcraft LLC, the drill lasted about three hours and tested a city emergency plan drafted in 2010, said South Portland Fire Department Deputy Steve Fox.

“You can’t just leave the plans on the shelf. If you do and then pull them out for a real situation, you could be in real trouble,” Fox said.

The trouble at Mahoney Middle School was not real last Thursday, but the response spread to Frank Brown Elementary School, where a command post was established. Googins, South Portland Fire Chief Kevin Guimond and School Superintendent Suzanne Godin were on hand to work through elements of the plan to secure the school, aid shooting victims and safely rescue uninjured students and staff.

Fox, who wrote the application for the $20,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to fund the drill, said the exercise will provide critical objective evaluations of the participants because Weaponcraft uses law enforcement and emergency response professionals in the drill.

Portland Police Sgt. Dan Hayden helped coordinate the exercise as a Weaponcraft staffer. He said it began in the school cafeteria as two young men opened fire, which meant the first officers who responded might be drawn into a shootout or have to react more deliberately as they searched for suspects.

When police entered the school, they found volunteer “victims” soaked in fake blood and wearing patches that resembled open wounds.

Before the exercise began, Chris Choyce, a Mahoney Middle School student, fiddled with a mask that simulated a gruesome head wound. He said he had little idea of how the script would play out.

“When they start, we don’t know what is coming,” he said.

The drill began with the sounds of blank rounds fired inside the school and four students fleeing to hide behind a shed. 

Police officers clad in blue arrived first, followed by a swarm of officers in camouflage. As the response unfolded, evaluators with clipboards observed and sometimes added complications to the script.

As police and emergency crews aided victims, volunteer “parents” converged on the command center and peppered South Portland Police Officer Jeffrey Pooler with desperate questions.

One parent was eventually “arrested” after slipping past police with a weapon in an attempt to confront the school shooters.

Outside the command post, parents accosted the mother of the alleged shooter and wondered how they would get to the South Portland Community Center to pick up their children after the school was evacuated.

Windham resident Michelle  Libby volunteered to play a parent and one of her children was inside the school as a volunteer victim.

“What else are you going to do on a Thursday afternoon?” she asked.

Godin said 54 students and 18 school department staffers volunteered for the exercise, which reinforced the need for communication and was a step above the fire and lockdown drills held at city schools.

“This is uncomfortable just to think and worry about,” she said.

Fox said economics led to some limitations on the exercise, including how many people could participate, but the experience for about 13 firefighters and emergency technicians proved invaluable. 

“For us, it was about training in a mass casualty incident, one with more patients than our resources can handle,” he said. “It was about triage, treatment and transportation.”

If the situation were real, Fox would count on mutual aid from Portland area fire departments. Last Thursday, he said EMTs learned Humvees owned by South Portland police might be used to remove victims from emergency scenes.

Googins said he is waiting for the Weaponcraft report on the drill and added the exercise built on training the department already performs. 

From the top down, Googins praised the realism of the exercise.

“They kept me in the dark enough so I could be tested, too,” he said.

Staff Writer David Harry can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 219.