Emergency responders are currently assessing their response to Thursday morning’s emergency drill which brought down an anthrax-carrying plane in Barrow County.

Planning had been ongoing for the past month for the scenario which found emergency responders testing their preparedness.

Barrow County Emergency Management Agency (EMA), Barrow County Sheriff’s Office, Barrow County Fire & Emergency Services, Winder Police Department, Winder Fire Department, Barrow County Public Health as well as the District Health Office, Barrow Regional Medical Center and other resources participated.

The American Red Cross and Barrow Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) also participated in the state drill and exercise on June 11.

"The scenario involved a small aircraft crash in Barrow County, a hazardous materials situation and the response to the critical incident," said Barrow County Emergency Management Director Jimmy Terrell.

"Victims" were transported to Barrow Regional Medical Center and the District Health officials were assisting local health department personnel in establishing Points of Distribution for treatment of those responders likely exposed. Plans were discussed for the community-wide dispensing of medication.

As part of the scenario on Thursday, residents were urged to be on the lookout for two white male subjects who fled the scene of the ‘crash’ on Chapel Church Road, however, it was soon determined that it was a lone suspect, a white male, had been dropped off in the vicinity of Winder-Barrow Middle School and could have been exposed to Anthrax.

By late Thursday morning, a individual matching the description was in custody and receiving treatment for possible anthrax exposure.

"The purpose of the exercise was to test our response capabilities as local agencies to implement the Incident Command System in response to a terrorism incident and the effective transition to a Unified Command structure are assessed," said Terrell.

The ability to activate, staff and operate the local Emergency Operations Center will also be examined.

Several communications issues have been identified and will be part of the after-action briefing.