Amidst Copycat Shooting Threats, North Fork Plans Mass Casualty Drill

GREENPORT, NY With the heartbreaking funerals ongoing for 19 children and two adults killed in the Uvalede, Texas school shooting, the North Fork is preparing for the worst by simulating a terrifying mass casualty incident.

On Saturday, June 4, the Greenport Fire Department is hosting a multi-agency mass casualty exercise on the grounds of the Greenport High School campus from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Southold Town Police Chief Martin Flatley said.

"During this exercise there will be numerous fire and police vehicles staged both on school grounds and Moores Lane in Greenport," he said. "To facilitate this exercise police will be closing Moores Lane for the duration of the drill."

Members of the public will most likely experience numerous fire and ambulance vehicles in or around the school grounds, which are all part of the exercise, he said.

According to Chip Bancroft, owner of Firehouse Training Plus, who conducts training for the Greenport Fire Department, which is hosting the event, the MCI drill will take place on the football field at Greenport High School.

The plan, he said, is to commence training for the entire 8th Division, with firefighters and ambulance personnel from Jamesport to Orient, and also Westhampton Beach, North Sea, Mastic, and East Moriches participating.

"We want to do something to test their incident command ability," he said. The drill will include multiple agencies.

The reason the football stands were chosen was because he didn't want to hurt any local businesses that have been hit hard by the pandemic. That's why, for example, no stores or theaters were considered for the drill, Bancroft said.

During the drill, which will last between two and three hours, local police, firefighters and EMTs will respond to a mock mass shooting, where students will be gunned down. The 100 or so student "victims" are volunteers from local Scout and ROTC groups, he said.

The event will feel terrifyingly real, he said. "It's going to be chaos," Bancroft said.

With the Texas shooting devastating the nation, the training couldn't be more timely, Bancroft said. "It's copycat time right now," he said. "Look out."

On Wednesday, a 15-year-old student was arrested after he threatened to "shoot up the school" in Riverhead, police said. Also this week, an 18-year-old was charged with making a terroristic threat after making threats against Westbury High School, police said.

Kym Laube, executive director of HUGS, Inc., said they will also be present at the event. "We are organizing the youth actors and doing the anti bullying— to be a helper and decompressing with the youth," she said.

Invariably, the emergency response system will be overtaxed in as little as five to eight minutes, and the goal is to see how agencies will perform so that they can work together to help the victims as quickly as possible — and save lives, Bancroft said.

Southold Town Police, led by Flatley, will work with Suffolk County Police to assemble teams to enter the school and eliminate the shooter, Bancroft said.

Bancroft, former chief of the Westhampton Beach Village Fire Department, said 24 agencies will be involved, with local ambulance companies and fire departments converging at the scene and sending crews and equipment; the Suffolk County Police Department will send its "flight for life" aviation unit, he said. Suffolk County's major emergency response vehicle will also be onhand, he said.

The event, he said, has "grown," with additional agencies signing on to participate.

For years, Bancroft has been a strong proponent of preparedness. A retired Air Force chief and self-professed "military guy" who's also worked as a deputy chief on Plum Island, Bancroft has brought individuals from areas where horrific mass shootings have left communities shattered, including the Columbine shooting and the Coral Springs tragedy in Florida — to learn firsthand from those who have been on the proverbial front lines.

"I'd rather be prepared for the worst," he said.

Communication in the heat of the moment is critical, Bancroft said. On the East End, many departments work independently, he said. "That's not bad, unless something big happens," he said, adding that it's important to learn to work as one unit during a mass shooting. The drill will mean that all involved will have a unified command system, involving fire, police and EMS.

"They have to learn how to talk to each other," he said. "Communication is always key."

Throughout his whole career in handling such events, since 1982, Bancroft said communication has always been an issue. "It's historical," he said.

Bancroft credited President George Bush for instituting the National Incident Management System after 9/11 so that agencies nationwide can communicate in an emergency.

During the worst of times, first responders often have to make rapid-fire, wrenching decisions. "There are some you know you can't save. You save as many as you can. People can be talking to you, and you know they're bleeding out and aren't going to make it. So you walk by and put tags on them."

While it's not easy, Bancroft said it's critical to focus on the task at hand. "It's important to know what you can and can't do," he said.

As for those who think that a mass shooting can't happen on the bucolic East End, Bancroft reminded, "It can happen anywhere at any time."

It's important, too, for young people to be prepared. "Things are changing," he said. "Kids are different nowadays, stressed. They've been in the house for a long time during the pandemic. Who knows when those social skills will come back."

But no matter what the crisis, he vowed, "We will be ready."

Bancroft wanted to emphasize to the community that despite the fact that the drill might be frightening, with a massive response and helicopters overhead, it's not really. "It's only a drill," he said. "Don't freak out when you see all the ambulances coming. We're preparing to better serve you — the community."

And make no mistake, the drill will seem very, very real, with gruesome details, including crushed egg shells mixed with blood to look like brain matter. "It will be professional theater-like makeup," he said.

For Bancroft, the satisfaction comes from doing his best to prepare communities to face unthinkable situations, such as how to talk to frantic parents who show up at the scene, asking for their children.

"We're doing this to be able to provide better service, to streamline service so that if, God forbid, something happens, we can mitigate it more quickly," he said.

Rapid response is essential, he said, referencing a woman seen crying for help at Columbine for minutes and seconds until she bled out.

Should any questions arise regarding the drill, Flatley said he can can be reached at 631-765-2600.