Marquette County officials have emergency plans in place

Agencies across the U.P routinely hold mock disasters to be able to coordinate and cooperate actions and reactions.

Plus, there have been an assortment of events in recent years that called on this training:a mercury spill at Marquette Senior High school in May 2007, a bomb threat at NMU in February 2011, a series of bomb threats across the county in September 2012 .and a fake threat that turned out to be a drug situation in October at Bell Hospital in Ishpeming.

These events – whether they posed a real threat or not – served as teachable moments for our emergency officials.  In both real life and simulated incidents, the importance of communication has been highlighted in simulated and actual incidents.

Emergency officials stress that knowing where to turn for information is vital.  They say you should get information from recognized and established news and information sites.

Tune in to our Sunday magazine show “In Focus” at noon on ABC 10 for more on how these professionals and those in education are preparing in case of a tragedy or emergency here.