Inmates practice evacuating in fire drill
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Inmates being held in the Tallapoosa County Jail were evacuated due to a fire Thursday night; there were no injuries as the blaze, which was initially reported in the library. Fortunately for all involved it was only a drill. The Dadeville, Camp Hill police and fire departments and the Eagle Creek fire department joined with the Tallapoosa EMS and the Tallapoosa County Sheriff’s Department in response to a fire drill held at the jail in order to coordinate the different agencies in case of an emergency.
“We had a mock fire drill at the county jail,” said Sheriff Jimmy Abbett. “It went really well.” Abbett said it was a coordinated effort between the other local agencies and the Sheriff’s Department to practice what to do in case of a fire emergency situation. “We rely on the five departments and additional law enforcement to provide a safe and secure area for the jail in matters like this,” Abbett said. “We try to get together and do a fire drill each year.”
Abbett said the fire drills have proven important in the past because there was a fire, which started in the jail’s laundry room.
“The previous exercises we’ve done came in helpful,” Abbett said. Abbett said in previous years the fire drill was held during the day shift but they held it during the night shift this year in order to train all the employees effectively, the department also gave tours of the inside and outside of the jail in order to train new firefighters and rescue personnel of the floor plan of the jail.
“We wanted them to know the layout and the grounds of the jail,” Abbett said. “We wanted them to know it inside and out in case of a fire.” Kenneth Thompson Dadeville fire chief said the exercise went really well and it was a valuable learning experience for all involved.
“It teaches everyone how to work together in a fire or other disaster scenario,” Thompson said.
Abbett said he wanted to thank the area agencies for all the hard work in helping the department stage the fire and subsequent evacuation. |
