On August 18th, 2025, the Tillamook County Local Emergency Planning Council (LEPC) hosted a tabletop exercise focusing on their Emergency Response Guide (ERG). “The intent of the exercise is to refine the Tillamook County LEPC ERG and bring in various partners to practice their outlined roles and responsibilities as listed in the plan,” Tillamook County Emergency Manager shared.

This 4-hour event brought together over 30 individuals representing 16 different organizations that represented local government, state government, private industry partners, and volunteer groups. They responded to a hypothetical hazardous materials spill occurring at a private facility that included dangerous airborne hazards and leaks into nearby waterways. This exercise was broken into modules that focused on specific operational functions necessary to complete response and recovery efforts, such as notification and messaging, response command and coordination, and decontamination.

A local City Manager attended the exercise and exercised alongside their first responder personnel. “This event developed my understanding for how to support City staff that are active in response and recovery operations,” they said. “It got me thinking about the need for public rally points and overall public messaging the City Government may need to implement during this type of a scenario.”

The Tillamook Creamery also attended, practicing response efforts as if the hazardous materials spill had occurred at their facility. “It was really great to hear the perspectives, opinions, and resources from other organizations that would be involved in this type of a response,” their staffer said. “I appreciate the opportunity to work through how we would be integrated with the first responder community during a hazardous materials spill.”

Neighboring Columbia County sent their Emergency Management staff over to observe the exercise event. “We wanted to learn more about the Tillamook County LEPC capabilities and expectations for responding to a hazardous materials incident,” said Corey Pardon, Columbia County Emergency Management Director.

This exercise was funded by the Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness Grant through the Oregon State Fire Marshal (OSFM), which allowed the Tillamook County LEPC to hire a contractor to design, develop, and conduct this exercise event. Following this event the Exercise Planning Team will develop an After-Action Report (AAR) that will outline the opportunities to improve the LEPC ERG in preparation for a full-scale exercise coming in 2026.

Want to learn more about this event? Reach out to Randy Thorpe - randy.thorpe@tillamookcounty.gov.