By Kevin Barlow
The Pantagraph
EUREKA, Ill. — With the understanding that Woodford County is ranked fifth in the state of Illinois for tornado activity, Kent McCanless, knows a twister could hit anywhere at any time.
“Of course everyone remembers what happened in Washington in November 2013,” he said. “I tell people in Eureka that the only difference between Washington and us is seven miles.”
On Saturday, The Woodford County Emergency Management Agency director will get a chance to see how crews would respond if a twister wiped out a portion of Eureka.
A full-scale disaster drill is expected to begin around 9:30 a.m. and continue until around 1 p.m.
“Our scenario is a tornado coming through town, entering by Lake Eureka, travel a path down Adams Road and then hit a couple of dormitories at Eureka College,” he said. “The disaster scene is going to be at Rinker’s Theater at the college. We’re hoping to have about 25 to 30 victims out there.”
The scenario will start with a single ambulance and local first responders. Then, other ambulances from around the county will be called in to assist. Officials from Advocate Eureka Hospital also will participate.
“They will be treating patients at the scene, but there will also be walk-ins that have to be attended to,” said McCanless. “In a situation like that, you have victims coming from a variety of places and you have to be prepared for that. They will activate their search protocol and I think we will learn a lot, but more importantly, we will be more prepared if it ever happens.”
Logan County will have a similar drill on Wednesday, which McCanless will attend. And, officials from Logan County will visit Eureka on Saturday. Other EMA county officials from Tazewell, Peoria, Macon, Logan and Iroquois counties also will be participating on Saturday.
“I was a firefighter for 25 years and so I wasn’t on the strategic side so much, but we have been working on this since I took over about 2 1/2 years ago,” he said. “It’s going to be interesting to find out exactly where we are at and what we have to do to get better.”
Motorists and residents in the area will be alerted to the impending preparedness exercise by highway message board that will be placed on Illinois 24 and Illinois 117 on Thursday. Emergency response activity in that area on Saturday should be attributed to the preparedness exercise unless otherwise indicated by emergency response agencies, McCanless said.
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