EMA personnel train in GPS tracking in Henry County

HENRY COUNTY, Tenn. — We are used to having a GPS direct us to a location, but emergency management personnel from 10 counties in West Tennessee are training to use it for a more specific purpose.

“We are learning with the latest technology — we have a lot of GPS equipment, different things like that — and we are also trying to see how to operate a lot of that equipment. A lot of it we are not used to having,” West Tennessee Emergency Management Agency President Johny Farris said.

The Henry County Emergency Management Office hosted the GPS training Thursday to allow the counties to work together to more efficiently find specific points.

“If we have folks that are lost in a situation or they may be calling from a cell phone or our 911 centers are able to ping a cell phone, we can get GPS coordinates from that and rescuers can go out and pinpoint that,” Henry County EMA Director Ron Watkins said.

Teams were training in a missing-person scenario and are given coordinates and a GPS to track and find clues that could help them in the future.

“Today we are using this for an opportunity to have GPS coordinates to go out and find those coordinates with the GPS units and our ATV vehicles and be able to form rescue in situations like that,” Watkins said.

“If you don’t train before the event, then you have no idea what to expect, so we get out and train in real-life situations like this,” Farris said.

Watkins said the EMA directors train together like this every couple of years to stay fresh.