Local first responders roll out new training tactics for active shooting scenarios

DAYTON — Active shooter situations present several challenges and dangers and the Dayton Fire Department is changing the way they prepare for them.

News Center 7′s Mike Campbell followed officers and emergency responders in Dayton Wednesday and spoke with them about the new tactics they are rolling out.

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The fire department participated in active shooter drills with Dayton Police officers over the past two days. Emergency responders have been conducting training at the Dayton Convention Center and were as realistic as possible.

Fire department crews received dispatch orders and quickly rolled into the staging location, meeting police officers and dressed in a different way than you might expect.

“We actually have ballistic vests and helmets for them to make sure they are safe as possible,” Mike Fasnacht, District Chief, Dayton Fire Department, said.

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The fire department is changing years of training policy, preparing to go into active scenes, and not waiting for police to make it safe before they begin treating victims.

“With an escort from the Dayton police department, they protect us from the front and rear; we stay in close quarters to each other, so we are a small target,” Fasnacht said.

The goal of the training was to help would-be victims as quickly as possible, where heavily protected medics and firefighters would bring victims to waiting ambulances.

“It changes our environment; we’re used to putting on gear that protects us from fire, now we are putting on gear that makes us feel we are in a police atmosphere,” Fasnacht said.

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Eventually, this training will be available for every firefighter and paramedic in the Dayton Fire Department.

This training is needed and necessary because of the 2019 Oregon District, where a gunman opened fire and killed 9 people, injuring another 27 more.

“It happened here once; it can happen again; we’re not protected from anything, this city is not oblivious to the fact that this could happen here again, so we’re preparing for that,” Fasnacht said.

The Dayton Fire Department, along with a lot of others across the country, know that the real thing can happen at any time, and they have to be prepared.

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