From the State Vet’s Office

IT’S LIKE A SCHOOL FIRE DRILL ONLY BIGGER

A LOT BIGGER!

BY DR. TONY FRAZIER

We can probably all relate to the fire drills that were conducted when we were going through school. I specifically remember going through a fire drill in the second grade in Ms. Nettie T. Parker’s class. The actual fire drill totally caught us by surprise that morning. We were doing art and I was coloring a blue bird with my crayons when the alert sounded. Three short bursts from the bell out in the hall followed by a pause, then three more short bursts. It was probably the same at your school. I don’t think we knew it was just a drill. But it didn’t matter if it was a drill or a real fire. Ms. Nettie T. Parker had walked us through the drill several times as a class when the alert was not sounding. Everyone was to get up orderly, leaving all personal belongings in our desks and line up at the classroom door. Ms. Parker was to make sure that the hallway was safe to enter. After assuring that the hallway was safe to enter, we walked in a line out the side exit of the elementary school and didn’t stop until we got to the flagpole. That was where our class was assigned to meet. Ms. Parker would carry her grade book and call roll at the flagpole just like she had done first thing that morning to make sure we were all there. So, when the bell began to ring that day, I was a little nervous thinking our school could be burning.

But we went through the drill without a hitch. Fortunately, there was no fire, and I was able to go back in and finish coloring my bluebird, which I probably made a C for a grade. Drills and exercises like that are critical for any emergency situation to be able to respond quickly, safely and efficiently.

Back in the middle of November, we participated in a very large-scale functional exercise involving a foreign animal disease outbreak, specifically footand-mouth disease (FMD). If any of you remember watching the television show, “Sanford and Son,” when Fred would grab his chest and say, “This is the big one, Elizabeth. I’m coming.” Well that is kind of how I feel about FMD. When I think back on the FMD outbreak in the European Union back in 2001, I do not want to experience anything like they did. Conservatively, more than four million animals were destroyed in order to contain the disease. The amount of money to contain the disease was in the billions of dollars. And since there is no 100% sure way to keep the FMD virus from getting to the United States and infecting our herds, we conduct drills and exercises so that if the “bell starts to ring” to alert us that we have FMD, we will all be able to follow what we have walked through as an exercise and when we meet at the flagpole, we will have minimized the damage to animal agriculture and the economy as much as possible.

The exercise back in November dealt with, among other things, how we would implement and respond to an order to stop movement of animals upon a diagnosis of FMD here in the United States. It certainly seems overwhelming how many agencies and industry groups are needed to make something like this work. This is a long list, but I feel obligated to mention all the entities that were involved in the exercise with us. The exercise was a cooperative effort between the states and our USDA colleagues to form a unified command to oversee the event. Then, at the table with us was the Alabama Livestock Marketing Association, the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association, ALFA, the Department of Transportation, Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, the Department of Public Health, and the Alabama Emergency Management Agency. The State and Federal Wildlife Agencies and our laboratories were also available during the exercise. And I cannot express how much I appreciate the sponsors who bought lunch for those of us involved in the exercise. Alabama Farm

Credit and Alabama Ag Credit were good enough to provide lunch, so we didn’t have to stop each day and were able to eat on the job and use our time more efficiently. This was like a fire drill but a lot bigger. The exercise helped us look at what all would be involved in stopping movement of animals to stop the possible spread of the disease in our state as well as in our country. We see the large tractor trailers every day hauling loads of cattle up and down the interstate. We don’t think much about it, but what if those animals could not be transported across state lines? It would be like when we were in school and played musical chairs. A stop movement order would be like when the music stops and all The exercise back in November dealt with, among oth- the animals on all the er things, how we would implement and respond to an trailers must find a seat. order to stop movement of animals upon a diagnosis We cannot just have the of FMD here in the United States. trucks pull over on the side of the interstate. Then the animals must be housed, fed and watered. We had to answer questions like where do the animals go for housing? Who will take care of them? Who pays for all of this? Who enforces the order? Hopefully this exercise was like buying insurance. We all buy homeowner’s insurance and hope we don’t need to use it. But if it is needed it is sure good to have. We conduct the drill, hoping the school never catches fire, but if it does, the time spent going through the drills is well worth it. And not to compare what we do to going to war, but there is a saying the military uses, “Every drop of sweat in training saves a drop of blood in battle.” When I was talking to Dr. Slaten, one of our branch lab directors and fellow Merle Haggard enthusiast, about school fire drills when we were kids, he related an interesting story to me. He said he was in the restroom when the fire alarm bell started sounding. And unlike my story where we moved to the flagpole in an orderly manner, he said he was just overcome with panic. When he opened the door to exit the restroom, the hall was filled with lines of kids exiting the building, but he didn’t recognize any of them. He said he was right on the verge of bursting into tears when a teacher asked him whose class he was in and got him where he needed to be. He said he believes that still has some residual effects on him now, decades later. So, the point I want to make is that we conduct these exercises concerning animal diseases so we will not be caught with our pants down.