SYLVANIA, OH (WTOL) - It's an exercise in patience.
"It goes against every training I've done. This is the first time I've ever done anything like this, but it's good," said Sylvania Police patrolman Patrick Gilmore.
Around 120 Sylvania first responders are practicing Rescue Task Force training at the old Lake Park Hospital and Care Center this week.
In light of recent mass shootings around the nation, local first responders want to make sure they're prepared.
"The concept is getting emergency medical personnel into the scene of an active shooter or terrorist type situation -- getting them into the scene as soon as possible after a threat has been minimized or eliminated," said Sylvania Police Operations Captain Rick Schnoor.
Law enforcement has to exercise patience.
Instead of rushing to where conflict would be, they form a protective bubble around firefighters.
The emergency training teaches Sylvania Fire Department, Sylvania Township Police and Sylvania City Police to learn how to better communicate and work together.
"It's muscle memory. The more we do this, the better we get, the faster we'll be able to deploy these, if we, God forbid, we ever have to use these skills, we'll have them. We'll have that muscle memory so we can react faster," said Sylvania firefighter Jason Fox.
Sylvania First Responders will continue this yearly training until the weekend.
Training runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day.
