Disaster Training with Girl Scout Cookies in Monroe, Ga.

Last Friday the Monroe Fire Department conducted a disaster preparedness distribution drill with Girl Scouts Cookies.

Yep, you heard it right Girl Scout Cookies. The City of Monroe Fire Department has been used as a point of distribution (POD) to distribute disaster relief items in the past. Back in the early 2000’s the department was used to distribute water to the citizens over several days when a train car derailed in Gwinnett County and spilled ethylene glycol (antifreeze) into the Alcovy River. However, it is difficult to prepare and conduct hands on training for such an event, which is where the cookies come in.

Working with the Girl Scout Troops in Walton County the Fire Department was able to conduct a live distribution drill that included receiving, organizing and distributing the mock disaster relief items (cookies) along with traffic and crowd control. “Believe it or not it takes a lot of planning and coordination to distribute items during a disaster and having hands on training helps us to be prepared in the future,” said Capt. Joe Page.

In total the Fire Department received and distributed over 53,000 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies in a span of about five hours, which says a lot knowing that all the orders were received and distributed before, during and after the department’s lunch hour. The cookies were distributed to 270 Girl Scouts who make up the 24 Girl Scout Troops located here in Walton County.

Jessica Dial the Director of Sales for Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia said, “It’s wonderful that we can have a place to distribute the cookies to our girls without having to worry about bad weather and rain and the firefighters get something out of it too.”

The department is looking forward to helping the Girl Scouts and performing the mock drill again next year. Anyone who is interested in buying some Girl Scout Cookies, joining the Girl Scouts or for general questions about the Girl Scouts can call 706-548-7297. They can also be found online at www.gshg.org or on Facebook under “Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia.”

Contributed by Lt. William Owens with the Monroe Fire Department.

See Also:

• Explosive Video from Monroe Fire Department

• Monroe Firefighters and Police Recue Baby Deer from Water Plant