First responders in Jackson County will practice their skills tonight at a popular music venue. The county's emergency management agency will hold a disaster drill at Codfish Hollow Barnstormers, which is located in a rural area east of Maquoketa.
Dave Donovan, head of Scott County's Emergency Management Agency, is helping out since he grew up in the area and enjoys concerts at Codfish Hollow.
He says people who go to the shows park in a field, then take a hayrack ride to the barn. And the disaster scenario will be an overturned hay wagon with a dummy pinned underneath it.
Members of the local 4-H Club will serve as actors, pretending to be injured. Donovan says they'll be transported to the hospital in Maquoketa where staff will test their ability to respond to a mass casualty incident.
So, Jackson County residents shouldn't worry if they hear a lot of sirens tonight. Donovan says the disaster drill is scheduled to begin around 6 pm.
