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Washington County Emergency Management provided equipment and assisted with President Donald Trump's rally at the BOK Center last Saturday.

WCEM Executive Director Kary Cox said they sent three personnel to work in the Unified Command Post with Tulsa Police and the United States Secret Service. He said they also provided a radio cache that was used to help coordinate communications between the dozens of state, local, and federal agencies that were on hand.

There were a lot of resources that had to be managed. Cox said it wasn't difficult, but it wasn't necessarily easy either. He said they had experience on their side with resource management because of wildfires and flooding that they have responded to in recent years.

Washington County Emergency Management also assisted with the checking / staging of personnel working the motorcade route, monitored communications, and assisted with logistics, documentation of resources and task management. Cox said there were over 400 personnel involved in the motorcade alone on Saturday.

Cox said personnel worked a 15 hour shift. He said three additional personnel were on standby at the Emergency Operation Center in Bartlesville in the event that they were needed.

This was a great opportunity and experience for the Washington County Emergency Management team. Cox said they were thankful to be able to contribute to the event and help with the process. He said it was an opportunity to work with a wide range of agencies.

There were two to three dozen different agencies across Oklahoma that had a hand in the Trump Rally last Saturday. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol, Fish and Game, Office of Inspector General, and several sheriff's departments and police departments were in action. Cox said getting to work with that many different jurisdictions and agencies at the same time is interesting. He said being able to interface with the federal agencies like the Secret Service was quite an experience as well.

Mixing different levels of government like federal, local and state together, is an opportunity and an experience like no other. Cox said it helps add another layer to the overall management process. He said the Incident Command System that Washington County Emergency Management uses all the time on the local level was utilized during the Trump Rally on Saturday.

Seeing that device work at an event of great magnitude proved the WCEM's theory that the system can work during events that have great implications for Washington County and the surrounding area if a large-scale emergency were to occur. Cox said it was a good learning opportunity to utilize the system and see how it works during a bigger event like the Trump Rally.

The importance of a planning process was something Cox said they witnessed during their time in Tulsa over the weekend. He said this was not just long-term planning or pre-planning, but rather incident planning or event planning.

This planning was emphasized in that particular event at the BOK Center. This incident planning or event planning focuses on the use of resources, the use of personnel, and tactical operations in terms of where the resources are going to be placed and what their tasks are in those locations.

Washington County Emergency Management identified some things with their equipment that they would like to make adjustments to as well. Cox said they will always look to put their personnel through further training moving forward. He said getting that training and experience will always be beneficial.

(Photo courtesy: Washington County Emergency Management)