FORT PIERCE — Sirens and cries for help filled the Treasure Coast Public Safety Training Complex on the campus of Indian River State College on April 28, as first responders took part in a high-intensity training exercise designed to improve response times during active shooter situations.
The training, led by the Gordon Center for Simulation and Innovation in Medical Education at the University of Miami, brought together 26 first responders from multiple agencies across the region. The exercise focused on improving coordination between law enforcement and emergency medical personnel during crisis scenarios.
Traditionally, emergency responders have followed a more cautious approach when entering potentially dangerous scenes.
“The response strategies that we've had with law enforcement and EMS fire rescue has been that fire rescue does not go inside a building, a house, or school or anything until what's known as SWAT clears that area that then it's safe to go inside,” said Al Brotons, an EMT paramedic and associate director of operations and instructor development for the Gordon Center.
The training introduces a different model that prioritizes speed and collaboration in life-threatening situations.
“This course was designed to bring law enforcement and EMS together and they go into that room or that building or that school together as a team in a fashion that's called rescue task force, which means depending on the resources in the area, either one or two officers form a cluster with EMS in the middle,” he said.
Officials said the approach is intended to reduce delays in medical care for victims, where minutes can be critical.
“If you're going to save someone's life, you've got to apply life-saving measures within minutes. You can't wait till the area is cleared because that's going to take a long time,” Brotons said.
The program uses realistic simulations to better prepare responders for the conditions they may face in the field. Actors portrayed injured victims, creating chaotic scenes meant to mirror real emergencies.
“They don't portray the sounds, you don't really see the injuries on them as you would with actual role players that are going to be screaming, hurting, being feared, running, which is a big thing because they have to learn that people are going to run out of that area, but you don't know if the assailant was in that group that's running,” he said.
Brotons pointed to previous incidents where similar training has influenced response efforts, including a shooting at Florida State University in April 2025.
“The FSU shooting, those officers and fire rescue guys had previously been trained and they responded to FSU shooting and they say that afterwards because we've met with them and talked to them that as a result of that training, they felt extremely comfortable going into that area, extremely comfortable knowing how they had to work together and it made it so much better than what we're doing right now as far as everybody show up and wait and all these other things,” he said.
Participating agencies included the Fort Pierce Police Department, Indian River County Sheriff’s Office, Stuart Police Department, St. Lucie County Health Department and Vero Beach Police Department, among others.
Brotons said the training aims to better prepare responders to act decisively when arriving at a scene.
“It means that they are going to be more prepared and ready to respond, knowing the tactics that they now have to employ when they get on scene versus what they've been doing, which is trying to secure the scene and do everything else, and now they know that they have to go in. They can't wait, they have to go in,” he said.
The training is funded through grants from the Florida Department of Education and is part of a broader effort to equip first responders across the state with strategies to respond more effectively to active shooter and hostile events.