ST. IGNACE — Multiple agencies from Michigan, Indiana and Ohio gathered in St. Ignace this week for a large-scale emergency response training simulating a midair plane crash over Lake Huron near the Mackinac County Airport.
The Southeast Michigan Dive Group led the two-day exercise, which brought together nearly 30 agencies from southern Lower Michigan, northern Indiana and Ohio.
The team worked with local District 8 partners, including Mackinac County 911 and Emergency Management, to practice underwater search and recovery operations and coordinated response efforts.
Lt. Brian Burwell of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said the goal was to strengthen communication and interoperability between the many teams involved.
“We want those teams to be able to communicate,” Burwell said. “When we run these exercises, you can do all the table-tops in the world, everything works out with table-tops. When we bring all this equipment into a scene we are looking for those things where we can do better. We always want to make it better.”
Officials said they plan to review and evaluate the exercise on Wednesday to identify ways to improve coordination in future emergency responses.