Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative runs Mayday drills with county emergency partners

Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative (SSVEC) told KWCD listeners it conducts regular “Mayday” drills — tabletop and field exercises that simulate an employee emergency to test response procedures, radio and cellular communications and coordination with local emergency partners. The drills are held in multiple districts to reflect Sierra Vista, Benson and Wilcox terrain and response times. “First we do the tabletop exercise…we bring all of our community partners, and discuss kind of what our scenario is,” said Matt Riesco, SSVEC safety manager. The tabletop step sets the scenario, then SSVEC stages field exercises in different service areas so line crews, fire departments, ambulance services and law‑enforcement partners can practice under realistic conditions. Nathan Hodges, SSVEC senior vice president of operations, said the field drills focus on outside and field employees because they are likeliest to be involved in a real Mayday. “We perform a drill in each area because we’d be dealing with different employees and also different emergency responders,” Hodges said. Riesco described the exercise sequence: develop a scenario based on industry and local conditions, run tabletop coordination with partners, stage a field exercise that includes a simulated employee going down and calling 911, then conduct an after‑action review to identify gaps. “We identify where our potential gaps are when it comes to radios or cell phone service, and what other alternatives we have that we can reach emergency responders,” he said. SSVEC said the goals of the Mayday program are to help employees recognize when to declare a Mayday, practice procedures under stress so the first time the protocol is not in a real emergency, test internal and external communications and strengthen relationships with county emergency partners. The cooperative encourages community partners’ participation to measure response times and improve coordination. For more information, SSVEC directed listeners to its website, ssvec.org, and its Facebook page. Sources: Matt Riesco and Nathan Hodges, Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative, on First Watch (KWCD).