Alaska Shield 2016

Good afternoon, my name is Kirsten Vessel and I am the PIO for the borough. Our current situation, approximately 2 weeks of cyber attacks have culminated in the failure of cell phone service, internet service, our communication system, and is affecting 911 services, traffic control, and the ability to conduct normal governmental and business across the Matsu Borough and possibly the state of Alaska. I want to assure you that our number one mission in the borough is our citizens' safety. Four Massabro schools were affected by this incident today, two elementary and two high school. We want to stay out of the way for the emergency personnel and the first responders so that they can do their jobs.

As you've heard, though, we've had some communication issues. This has been a cyber attack affected at this time. The police department is up and running. I want to initially say that our thoughts and our prayers go out to the folks who are involved in the incident at the Palmer Fairgrounds today with one of our trains. Now we have a mass influx of patients.

We've called both a Code Black and a Code Purple. The Firehouse 51 is cleared of all explosive hazards. I'd certainly like to express my condolences to the families of the injured and those fatalities that we experienced today. Thank you very much.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE] When I became a chief out on the borough, that was one of the first tasks that was given to me was to develop a hazmat team. We did not have any hazmat for the Matsu Borough.

What you see behind me can be set up in 20 minutes. From the time the crews park to 20 minutes, we're able to receive patients, and that's critical when there's a chemical on them and they need immediate attention.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE] You know, the train carries hazardous materials all the time, whether it be fuel or or ammonium nitrate. It's important to be prepared, especially on the emergency services side, so that when and if this incident were to occur, we've practiced it and we've done it slow speed, you know, no-fault environment, and so we have a chance to get in and look at the rail cars, we can look at the passenger cars, we can take people off a school bus. So we don't do those types of calls every day, and so it's nice to be able to practice that and just prepare for worst-case scenarios.