Lake Ozark fire and police crews trained on active shooter situations

LAKE OZARK, Mo. (KY3) - An active shooter situation is one that many first responders hope to never have, but must be ready to face.

On Friday, police and fire crews in the Lake of the Ozarks region were trained on such incidents.

”We are preparing for those events where someone is intending to do a lot of harm to a lot of people,” said David Woodward, Lake Ozark Fire Protection District’s Training Officer.

First responders had the opportunity to practice techniques on each other going through different scenarios.

”It’s really vital for all first responders to have the strain because these acts of violence like this, people will lose blood very, very fast. So the faster we can treat those, those blood losses through tourniquets, wound packing any of those things, fixing circulation, breathing airway problems, so that we can save more lives,” said Woodward.

Woodward said while there are certain guidelines first responders have to have due to federal guidelines, the department wants to make sure everyone is as prepared as they can be.

”We have two law enforcement officers on duty daily versus 100 in certain areas, so we had to find a system that worked best for us,” said Woodward.

He says it is important to know that your first responders are working together.

”It’s really vital for all first responders to have the training,” said Woodward.

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