Rescue workers from numerous agencies worked side-by-side in a training exercise in a wing of the Franklin Twp School that is being demolished.  The scenario for the drill planned by the Franklin Twp Office of Emergency Management and the Quakertown Fire Company centered on a tornado hitting the school with numerous victims being injuried or trapped.

Volunteer fire and EMS personnel worked for 3 hours using equipment and techinques not frequently used on everyday assignments to breach concrete walls and break open walls and roofs.  A triage area was manned by members of the Township CERT as victims were brought out of the school.  This type of training in buildings like the Franklin School is valuable in the fact that it gives rescuers "real" conditions to drill in.

Units participating in the drill were Quakertown Fire and Division of EMS, Frenchtown Fire, Clinton Fire Department, Clinton First Aid and Rescue Squad, Flemington-Raritan First Aid and Rescue Squad, High Bridge Fire Department, Franklin Twp CERT and OEM, Franklin Twp Police, NJ State Police and Homeland Security.

Thanks to the Boy Scouts of Troop 108 for playing "victims" as well as Franklin Twp residents for playing the part of "parents responding to the scene".  The entire exercise was possible due to the cooperation and consideration of the Franklin Twp Board of Education.