According to a press release from the Lufkin Police Department, last week Lufkin Police & Fire underwent integrated training at the city’s Tulane Drive training facility to speed up response times in active attacker events.

The training known as “AAIR” school stands for Active Attack Integrated Response and follows the city’s new public safety model, according to City of Lufkin Director of Public Safety Gerald Williamson.

“Each individual group does an excellent job on their own, but because of the change in the way these attacks are carried out, we have to do a better job of integrating those resources, “Williamson said. “It’s all about speed of response – Speed of getting to the victims; speed of stopping the attacker – all of those things are our focus now.”

Roughly 200 officers, firefighter/paramedics and dispatchers went through the daylong class offered four days last week to accommodate the group. (video below/no audio) Participants went through half a day of in-class sessions taught by police and fire instructors before encountering “live fire” scenarios based on national news events like Virginia Tech and Pulse Night Club.

The majority of active attacker victims die as a result of blood loss – sometimes preventable if medical attention is provided quickly. Under this training model, firefighter/paramedics are entering a scene before it is secured to minimize blood loss, Lufkin Fire Chief Ted Lovett said.

“Normally we stage and wait for the scene to be secured before making entry so this is a totally different mindset than what we’re used to - making entry almost upon arrival,” he said. “We know how to neutralize ‘fire’ – that’s what we do, but our ‘fire’ doesn’t shoot back.”

Fire instructors taught police officers tactical combat care as part of the new training model, according to Lufkin Police Chief David Thomas.

“Police officers are learning emergency medicine to do on scene before the fire department gets there,” Thomas said. “We all learned something new.”

 

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