CALIFORNIA, USA — As California heads into fire season, first responders and law enforcement officials are wasting no time to prepare for what's possibly to come.
A live training event was held in Placer County Wednesday to make sure everyone is on the same page when it comes to these critical events.
Cal Fire, Placer County Sheriff's Office, Placer County Fire, and Roseville Police Department were some of the agencies at the training today. The focus was to make sure each agency had not only the necessary resources to respond to a critical event but also knew who to call for help.
"Extremely important that we come together, have a unified command that we're messaging the same and all the decisions aren't being made in a vacuum," said Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo.
Also at the training, representatives from PG&E, actively engaging with law enforcement and first responders. The utility company's power lines have been responsible for causing multiple fires in Northern California over the past few years.
"We teach about the hazards of gas and electric. Lessons learned from the past experiences and how to prevent those from happening into the future," said Brent Stangeland, senior public safety specialist with PG&E.
PG&E's role during the training was to be the resource to first responders in the event power and gas lines needed to be turned off.
"First and foremost is public safety and first responder safety and when it pertains to our utilities, and so we bring that skill set and ability to be able to de-energize power lines, to shut off gas and things of that nature if that's necessary," said Stangeland.
While there is no threat of a wildfire or any other weather-related incident Wednesday, officials hope all of their coordination, communication and team work will be beneficial when a real emergency is present. Fire officials also say the public can play a big role in keeping themselves safe.
"Get out early, so we can get in and help you," said Brian Estes, fire chief for the Placer County Fire Department.
While the focus was on a lot on weather-related incidents, there was also training on how to respond to events relating to civil unrest.
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