Bold Steps in Preparedness: Training with Anthrax and Ricin The Center for Domestic Preparedness successfully incorporated biological materials into select training courses February 2012. These new materials, Bacillus anthracis delta Sterne and ricin A-chain, provide the first response community a unique opportunity to work in an environment with biological materials—similar to a real world response. (more…)
Adding One More Tool to the Responder’s Tool Box
From the FEMA Blog
Wednesday morning, February 8, at 9:57 a.m. CST, as most people were probably going about their workday, a historic event happened at FEMA’s Center for Domestic Preparedness in Anniston, Ala. At that moment, the first group of state, local, and tribal responders went through live agent training inside CDP’s Chemical, Ordnance, Biological and Radiological, or COBRA, training facility using biological materials.
Since the CDP opened in 1998 the facility has provided the only location in the U.S. where civilian responders could train with chemical agents GB and VX. As of Wednesday, those same responders can now include biological materials in their training repertoire.
