LE MARS, Iowa (KTIV) -
The weather in Siouxland the last few years has been dangerous, even deadly at times.
Back in 2008, an EF-3 tornado hit a Boy Scout camp near the town of Blencoe, Iowa.
Four scouts were killed and 50 more were injured.
Then last April, the town of Mapleton was hit with an EF-3 tornado as well.
While no one was killed, over 100 homes and buildings were damaged by the storm.
It was a learning experience for everyone involved including first responders.
With another tornado season around the corner, emergency workers are getting a lesson from those who've experienced it first-hand.
The conference room in the Floyd Valley Hospital in Le Mars, Iowa was filled with firefighters, EMT's and other emergency personnel.
But there were no fires, accidents, or disasters for them to rush to the rescue.
This was only a test.
"This is why we concentrate on doing exercises, so that we all get up to speed. It lets us basically test our emergency folks, our equipment, and our system," said Randy Ross, Monona County Emergency Coordinator.
Randy Ross an emergency coordinator for Monona County experienced both EF-3 tornados that hit Mapleton last year and the Boy Scout camp near Blencoe back in June of 2008.
Ross knows that while both tornados had the same intensity the aftermath was different.
"The scout camp it was basically what we call a wilderness area. Whereas Mapleton, being a town, we had structures that had to be cleared and searched," said Ross.
Eric Fox was one of the responders who helped just hours after the tornado hit Mapleton.
He says his team took the lessons they learned from Blencoe and applied it to Mapleton.
"We're learning a lot from every deployment that we have. The things that we felt we didn't do so well at the Boy Scout camp, we improved in the Mapleton one," said Eric Fox, Task Force Leader for the Urban Search and Rescue.
With such hands-on experience, both Ross and Fox want to share their knowledge to everyone else.
"It's very important that these communities know that there is a resource that can be called upon if they so need it," said Fox.
"That's the thing about disaster management, it's a constant evolving scenario," said Ross.
In addition to emergency crews from Le Mars, personnel from Remsen, Sioux Center and North Sioux City, South Dakota took part.
