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Students from some riverside communities got some hands-on lessons about emergency response and what they can do to prepare when the Belmont County Emergency Management Agency hosted a tour for Bellaire, Bridgeport and Martins Ferry middle-schoolers last week.
Alisha Parsons, site coordinator for the Bellaire Middle and High School After-Hours Academy program, said 30 of her students in fifth through ninth grades attended, and Lise Kleevic, site coordinator for the Martins Ferry and Bridgeport After-Hours Academy said a combined 15 children from both her communities attended.
The after-hours program focuses on reading and math enrichment and meets three hours per day Monday-Thursday to help students with homework and positive development.
"It's to help boost their grades, bring up their scores in reading and math and give them some entertainment in fun, educational experiences, and through that we started doing some field trips. The EMA was one of the ones we did this month," Parsons said.
"It was pretty much a preparedness course," Kleevic said. "They also showed them the different things they do with hazardous waste and emergency management. It was kind of an all-around preparedness course."
Kleevic said EMA Deputy Director Glenn Trudo described hazards, including the types of placards on semi trucks that indicate if the vehicles are transporting hazardous materials and what kind.
"That was something they knew nothing about, that they were enlightened to," Kleevic said.
Parsons said the students learned what to do during different types of disasters and about specific dangers.
"It gave them some real-life examples of things that might actually happen in their lives, and to have a safe place if there's a fire or an emergency with your family at home, where's your family meeting spot?"
Parsons added the presentation touched on some of the disasters that have occurred in familiar areas.
"They showed slides from natural disasters like the Shadyside flood of 1990, the flood in Bridgeport in 2004," she said.
Another example was a well pad fire in Powhatan Point in 2018. "The different kind of fire that was, how you couldn't just put that out. The gasses had to be capped.
"They were showing pictures of the disasters and then how prepared they were to take care of those situations," she said.
"That's right in our backyard. Some of the staff there knew people from the Shadyside flood, and it hit home," Parsons said.
Kleevic added that students were able to tour the emergency operation portable command center.
"They showed pictures of the Lansing/Bridgeport flood ... they showed how the creek came down and completely tore out the road, and that's the road that most of them ride their buses home on, so they got to see an aerial view of that and what the strength of the water can do. It was good because it did keep it local for them. They either knew somebody in a flood, knew the road or area that was flooded," Kleevic said.
"For the Bellaire kids, they showed the flooding that happened down in Neffs," Parsons said. "It hit home for them."
"They were very interactive with Deputy Director Trudo. He would ask them questions and they would offer their guesses and were very involved. Some of them just really impressed me with the knowledge that they came into the meeting with," Parsons said.
Kleevic agreed.
"It wasn't something they were used to being taught," she said.
Parsons said students were enthralled by the experience.
"It wasn't just a guest speaker that comes in and told them about their job and what they do. They were actually hands-on in the workroom where these people are working during these emergencies, and they put the screens all up on the front of the room," Parsons said.
Another lesson was to have a bag of items and medicine prepared and ready at all times in the event of a disaster.
"If you have to go to a shelter and you're going to be away from your things for you don't know how long, what you should take. You should have a little bit of all of your important things," Parsons said.
They hope to invite Trudo to the schools next year so that he can answer more questions about preparedness.
Parsons said there were other lessons from the tour they could integrate into the classroom, such as practicing tornado drills. She recalled there was a tornado warning last year during school hours.
"Where do you go if there's a tornado? Stay away from the windows," she said; "This was a flashback."
Students were also introduced to the Code Red reverse 911 program, which can be downloaded onto their cell phones so they can receive notification in the event of an emergency.