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Altoona Area High School will host an active shooter class from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday for EMS, law enforcement and firefighters.
Officials including district and local police will be present at the school's B Building to take part in simulations of school shooting situations, so don't panic, district officials said.
"We want to stress that this is just a drill," district director of safety and security Bill Pfeffer said. "We do this at least once a year, and we continually train to keep up."
Pfeffer added that each year, every school building is required by state law to conduct drills for these situations.
The training is on the Rescue Task Force concept, which is a "major change in doctrine" for EMS and firefighters to active shooter situations, according to a press release from the district.
Pfeffer said he couldn't disclose specifics of the drills but said the modern day approach is to be quicker and more efficient than in past incidents in the country where officials had to wait longer to breach buildings.
"We're going to try various things, and we'll go back and ask what worked and what didn't," Pfeffer said. "It's always good to critique and ask ourselves what the best practice is."
The course is designed for collaborative training between emergency responders in areas of triage, emergent care and patient extrication.
"We are thrilled for this because it helps familiarize local EMS and emergency personnel with our building," said district community relations director Paula Foreman. "It's always good to get local EMS and law enforcement in our buildings because the more they're in there, the more familiar they are. The opportunity to review procedures and simulate a crisis is advantageous for everyone."
"It's another way for first responders to collaborate in our community and make sure everything is in line in the case of an event like an active shooter," Pfeffer said. "It's more training like this that makes us better off when dealing with something of that magnitude."
Mirror Staff Writer Andrew Mollenauer is at 814-946-7428.