Responders working at 2016 Boston Marathon were well-prepared

COLLEGE STATION – When up to a million spectators lined the streets in Boston on Monday to watch 30,000 runners compete in the 26.2-mile Boston Marathon, public safety personnel were also there in force. Because of the 2013 bombings and recent terrorist attacks in Brussels and Paris, security was tight.

Among the agencies, departments and universities that trained public safety personnel supporting the marathon was the National Emergency Response and Rescue Training Center (NERRTC), a center operated by the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX). News reports said over 1,800 individuals received specialized training over the past two years, including police officers, firefighters, emergency managers, emergency medical technicians and paramedics.

NERRTC has delivered 26 courses to over 700 responders, medical personnel and emergency managers in Boston and surrounding areas during the past two years. Besides training in the Incident Command System, personnel attended a course in Sports & Special Events Incident Management, which is held in conjunction with The University of Southern Mississippi’s National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS4).

Courses were also held on Disaster Preparedness for Hospitals and Healthcare Organizations, Medical Management of CBRNE (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive) Events, Pediatric Disaster Response and Emergency Preparedness, and Medical Preparedness and Response to Bombing Incidents, which is jointly taught with the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center at New Mexico Tech. TEEX instructors also conducted training in Critical Infrastructure Protection, Response to HazMat/WMD Incidents and Wide Area Search.

The training was delivered by NERRTC and funded by the DHS/FEMA Homeland Security Training Program Cooperative Agreement through the sponsorship of the National Training and Education Division.

“NERRTC is proud to be a member of the National Domestic Preparedness Consortium, and we work with our partners to deliver specialized training not only in Massachusetts but in all 50 states and five U.S. territories,” said NERRTC Program Director Jesse Watkins.

Since it was established in 1998, the NDPC has delivered training to over 2.5 million participants and continues to offer training at no cost to qualified personnel across the country, he added.

View a CNN story about the Boston Marathon and security training.

Learn more about training offered by the National Emergency Response and Rescue Training Center (NERRTC).