South Sioux City LEC hosts advanced incident training

SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Nebraska (KTIV) – Hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst. That's what authorities in South Sioux City and Dakota County are training for this week.

At the South Sioux City Law Enforcement Center, officers test their skills by handling simulated scenarios in response to a “major incident.”

The course was hosted by Blue Cell LLC, a company that specializes in disaster management, where officers can work through a range of scenarios, including terrorism, fires or floods.

Each employee took on a different role in the “command center” to help manage the incident. The founder of the Blue Cell Program says the training has been offered in Nebraska since 2009. It provides valuable training to first responders.

“We actually created it because of the challenges we've seen around the country with major incidents,” said Todd Manns, founder of Blue Cell LLC. “To be able to do it so long after its launch here in Nebraska is just a great opportunity for us.”

One of the officers who attended said this was the first time he had taken this course… and he recommends it to other emergency coordinators.

“It brings the teaching part into real life, to actual incidents,” said Jerry Lager, emergency management coordinator at CHI Health. “It makes it clearer what we're actually going to do in a real incident.”

This was a two-day program that began with classroom work on Monday.

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