Douglas County Students Train Alongside Fire, Guard in Mock Emergency Drill

Two hundred Rock Canyon High School students worked as first responders Friday in a large-scale mock emergency drill organized by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, responding to a simulated four-car accident involving 16 "victims" staged in a Douglas County parking lot.

The exercise unfolded in coordinated waves, mirroring the layered response of an actual multi-agency incident. Criminal Justice students were dispatched first. Aaron Paul, Rock Canyon's Criminal Justice teacher, set the scene before students moved in: "You've received a call. Four car accident, multiple bodies on the ground, pretty big scene. You are now going to be our first responders, okay? I'm going to walk into the scene with you. You let us know what we need."

Criminal Justice student Espne Kaul described what the drill required in practice. "I was helping a victim over there, like taking care of her, trying to help her get the story and then we had to go over to our makeshift hospital," Kaul said.

Fire science and EMT students arrived next, taking over suppression and triage. Fire Science student PJ Plumb described his crew's approach: "We rolled up on scene today after the police and Gia was captain and I was engineer so we kind of had to do a size up of the situation, went out and put out that fire." Forensics students rounded out the response, arriving last as the scene transitioned from emergency management to investigation.

South Metro Fire Rescue and the National Guard joined the Sheriff's Office in staffing the exercise, providing the personnel and equipment that gave the simulation its full-scale character. The 200 participating students were drawn from Rock Canyon's Career and Technical Education Center, which houses the school's law enforcement, fire science, and EMT tracks.

Rock Canyon, located in Highlands Ranch, has built sustained relationships with both South Metro Fire Rescue and DCSO, reflected in the depth of Friday's exercise. For students who typically train in classrooms and simulation labs, the parking lot scenario offered something those environments cannot fully replicate: 16 classmates playing casualties, real agency instructors calling the shots, and the kind of coordinated chaos that public safety careers are built around.