Guilford County to stage active assailant drills in Greensboro, May 6 and 7

Guilford County Emergency Services has been staging multi-agency active assailant drills near Maple Street and Vine Street in Greensboro, a crowded civic area where police, fire crews, 911 dispatchers and college staff are being pushed to work as one system under pressure. The first two sessions ran May 6 and May 7 during normal business hours inside structures, and two more are set for May 20 and May 21.

County officials said the exercise is meant to stress-test the basics that matter most in a real emergency: how fast agencies communicate, how quickly resources move, and who takes command when a scene is still unfolding. Residents and workers in the area were told to expect a large emergency-services presence and may hear simulated gunfire, with signage placed nearby to make clear the activity is planned. The county also emphasized that the training does not indicate any threat to public safety.

The partners in the drill include area law enforcement agencies, city and county fire departments, Guilford Metro 911 and Guilford Technical Community College. That mix reflects how an active-assailant response now depends on more than a police arrival. Dispatch has to route the right units, fire and EMS have to prepare for casualties, and command staff have to keep the information flow moving as the situation changes from minute to minute.

Guilford Metro 911 sits at the center of that system. The consolidated public-safety answering point serves all of Greensboro and Guilford County, and the city says it has 130 employees handling call intake and dispatch for medical calls throughout Guilford County, Greensboro and High Point, along with fire and law calls in Greensboro and Guilford County. In a drill like this, that hub is where communication can succeed or fail.

Guilford County Emergency Services also brings its own responsibilities to the exercise, including paramedic-level emergency medical care, fire department support operations, fire code building inspections, fire investigations and emergency management and planning services. The county’s emergency management program dates to July 1, 2003 and uses an all-hazards approach built around NFPA 1600 and identified best practices.

That broader framework matches the way active-assailant training has evolved nationwide. The International Association of Fire Chiefs says collaborative stakeholder participation and exercises are imperative, and Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training, formed in 2002, was named the national standard in active shooter training by the FBI in 2013. In Guilford County, the point of the drill is not spectacle. It is to expose weaknesses in response time, communication and command before a real crisis can do it for them. Media members will be able to observe part of the exercise later in the month.