NIU to offer training in disaster response

Earl Hansen wants to buy an airplane. But not the entire plane -- just the fuselage.

Hansen, an associate professor with Northern Illinois University's Department of Technology, and assistant professor Dennis Cesarotti want the body of an airplane to teach students how to effectively handle disasters and emergencies in a productive, methodical manner.

"You can't manage what you don't know," Hansen said. "If you don't have the equipment, it's hard to train your people. You want to expose students to as many learning opportunities as possible."

NIU is one of eight Illinois universities offering certificates for completing classes involving skills that can be used to mitigate homeland security emergencies. Between terrorist attacks and natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, as well as the recent wildfires in Southern California, the need for people familiar with the proper way to manage an array of disasters has grown, Cesarotti said.

He also said the key to homeland security isn't complicated.

"It comes down to three things: Where do you go? What do you do? What do you do it with?" Cesarotti said. "That's something even residents of a small town need to know in an emergency situation, not just the responders."

Cesarotti and Hansen have students study natural disasters and terrorist attacks to show that while disasters might differ in size, scope and circumstance, all call for a level of strict organization, confident decision-making and cooperation among different specialists, Hansen said.

"We asked students to go back to their communities and find out their emergency protocol from their communities," Hansen said. "Ninety-eight percent of them came back and said they were told they couldn't give out the evacuation routes, because they're afraid terrorists could get it. It's the most asinine thing I've ever heard. What good is a plan if people don't know about it?"

The online introductory class in the program has students role-playing disaster management situations. One of the regular assignments involves students acting as the mayor, governor or county emergency coordinator or in other management roles; students make decisions in a disaster from that role's perspective. The class recently used the California wildfires as the situation to be handled.

Students' personal biases often come out in the chosen courses of action -- often in ways that would be detrimental in a real disaster, Cesarotti said.

"You have to put that aside sometimes and figure out what to do for the majority of people," Cesarotti said. "I have a student who loves her pets. Now I'm not an animal-hater, but she wants to organize and commit staff and resources to getting the animals to safety. I probably wouldn't put that No. 1, past people in retirement homes, schools or hospitals."

The professors agree classroom-based work and study are helpful but don't accomplish as much as real training exercises.

Earlier this fall, students in the introductory class took part in a disaster training exercise with firefighters in Waterman. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway brought out a training fuel truck so participants could practice handling a hazardous fuel leak. Students also practiced using hazard gear, such as a full-body protective suit and oxygen packs.

"We want to get students to interact with professionals," Cesarotti said. "Nothing teaches like the hard way, and at the end of the day, if you don't have solutions, just shut up. You might want to do everything at once, but you can't."

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.