Bismarck – As the number of mass shootings continues to increase across the country, Officials are doing everything they can to be prepared for when the unthinkable happens.
It’s a typical Wednesday at the Pride Inc offices in North Bismarck, the halls and offices are filled with joy and laughter, but later, they’ll be running and screaming, everything that accompanies a mass shooting.
That’s because Heartland Consulting is here to conduct an active shooter exercise, but putting one of these on isn’t exactly an easy task and can take over 40 hours of planning alone.
“When we come on scene to do a full event or a full exercise, we might spend half the day or more just setting up, getting everything staged, getting the smoke machines in place, getting weapons in place that shoot blanks, makeup on the victims to make them look realistic, the list goes on and on,” said Heartland CEO Derek Hanson.
It’s a multi-step process that sometimes involves building a simulated city to show where emergency responders will be positioned.
Before each drill employees triple check their weapons, supplied to them by Hollywood to make sure they are filled with nothing but fake ammo or blanks.
Then it’s on to makeup, which can range from bullet wounds and broken legs all the way to shards of glass sticking out of peoples faces, each situation is unique.
Tony Baker is the CEO of Pride and tells KX News why he decided to hold an active shooter exercise.
“The reality is the world we live in has changed, with violence in the workplace and active shooters are just one of the things we have to deal with now and we need to be prepared in case we ever have a situation like that,” said Pride CEO Tony Baker.
They hope by the end of the day, employees head home to their families with the knowledge of what to do when the unthinkable happens, so that when, and if it does, their families have a better chance of them returning home.
Heartland officials say after Wednesdays excercise in Bismarck, they’re off to Grand Forks for a final planning meeting before a large scale active shooter drill at South Central High School next week.