Alaska Specific Hazardous Materials
Tabletop Exercises
DRAFT
School Tabletop
Exercise
Division of Homeland Security & Emergency Management
Department of Military & Veterans Affairs
Welcome and Introductions
This document was prepared under
a grant from the Pipeline and
Hazardous Materials Safety
Administration within the U.S.
Department of Transportation.
For Official Use Only
Agenda
8:30 - Registration
9:00 - Welcome and Introductions
9:15 - Exercise Scenario and Discussions
12:00 - Working Lunch
1:00 - Exercise Scenario and Discussions
2:00 - End Exercise
2:15 - TTX Hotwash
2:45 - Concluding Remarks
Scope
This exercise focuses on notification,
coordination and command and control
issues associated with a HazMat incident in
Alaska.
Objectives
Demonstrate the ability to direct, coordinate,
and control emergency activities using the
Incident Command System (ICS).
Demonstrate the ability to alert, mobilize, and
activate personnel for emergency response
and maintain operations until the situation is
brought under control.
Demonstrate the ability to mobilize, track,
and demobilize equipment, people, and
other resources in support of emergency
operations.
Objectives
Develop and maintain coordinated
action plans to accomplish operational
objectives.
Identify and implement appropriate
actions to protect emergency workers
and the public.
Coordinate and disseminate timely and
accurate information to the media.
Exercise Process
 This is an open, low-stress, no-fault
environment
 Respond based on your knowledge of
current plans and capabilities
 Decisions are not precedent setting and
may not reflect your organization’s final
position on a given issue.
How to Play in a TTX
Players respond to the situation presented,
based on knowledge of response procedures,
current plans, and insights from training.
The facilitator will present the situation. The
information presented is supplemented in the
players’ Situation Manual. Players will
engage in a discussion of appropriate
response actions and issues that arise from
the scenario at hand.
Format of a TTX
Interactive
No fault environment – exchange ideas
Learn what other departments,
agencies, & jurisdictions need from you
Prompts to get you talking/thinking with
each other
Write down issues to solve within your
own agency
MODULE ONE
At 9 a.m. on a Monday
morning, two students
at [SCHOOL NAME]
report to the school
nurse complaining of
sore throats and a
fever. She has them
both lie down in a quiet
area.
At 11:00 a.m. the school’s
administrative office
receives its daily mail. In
the mail is a plain white
envelope, filled about a
quarter-full with a white
powder.
The secretary who has
opened the envelope alerts
the school administration.
The administration immediately moves all
staff from the office, and evacuates the
students from adjacent classrooms to the
gym.
The administration calls local emergency
responders.
First responders arrive
on the scene and are
advised by the school
administration of the
powder.
Responders learn there
had been a white powder in
the library the week before.
The school librarian said
she had seen it sprinkled
along a bookshelf while
doing some cleaning.
She is unsure of how long
it had been on the shelf.
MODULE TWO
Several students
have texted and
called their parents
about the emergency
at the school.
A couple of parents
have arrived at the
school to pick up their
children.
A reporter is calling local
response agencies and the
school for information.
Reporters have also begun
calling the principal’s cell
phone.
Responders on the scene
are unable to identify the
powder in the envelopes.
More parents are arriving at the school to
pick up their children. They demand to
take their children home.
There are about fifteen parents and
family members on the campus at this
point.
A television news crew
has arrived on the scene
and is attempting to get
footage for their evening
broadcast.
MODULE THREE
Responders have
called the state’s
Civil Support Team
(CST) to assist with
the identification of
the powder and the
response
operations.
A student who had been taken home by
her mother is complaining of the same
symptoms as the students who reported
to the nurse. She was in the library the
previous Thursday.
The first members of the
CST have arrived by
helicopter.
The ANG has also deployed
their mobile lab and
communications unit, both
of which are on the road
towards the school.
DISCUSSION
HOTWASH
THANK YOU
Division of Homeland Security & Emergency Management
Department of Military & Veterans Affairs