The exercise involved six victims, five injured and one missing. 

Firefighters, police, ambulance personnel, and Sleepy Eye Medical Center staff worked together to locate victims, perform rescues, provide on-scene care, and transport patients. 

The Brown County Sheriff’s Office also participated with boats on the water helping assess the situation and search for the one missing victim.

The drill included a simulated collision between pontoon and fishing boat.

Sleepy Eye Ambulance personnel prepare to transport simulated patients from the lakeshore during the joint training exercise involving fire, police, sheriff and medical center staff. (Photo by Mikayla Bruggeman)

Firefighters used the department’s newer low-profile rescue boat, which allows rescuers to reach victims more easily than higher-sided vessels.

Keaton Borth, a Sleepy Eye firefighter with five years on the department, said the first focus was determining the condition of the victims. 

Actual people, many of them lifeguards, portrayed the casualties.

Borth said the training is important because “the lake’s getting a lot busier and you never know if something’s gonna happen.”

He added that it helps teams work with EMTs, firefighters and other agencies.

Dr. Harman Dhaliwal (foot of bed), Dr. Adam Armbruster (beside patient) and Lexi Fischer, RN (head of bed) treat a simulated victim during the mass-casualty drill at Sleepy Eye Medical Center. (Photo by Mikayla Bruggeman)

Aaron Schauman, a Sleepy Eye firefighter with 23 years of service, said the low-profile fire boat makes extraction smoother: 

“The sides of it are lower to the water. You get another boat that’s got the higher sides. It’s hard to reach down to grab anybody or get anybody out.”

Schauman also said the Sleepy Eye Fire Department currently has 32 members and is short one. 

“We could use one more firefighter,” he said. The goal is to have 33.

He emphasized strong partnerships with neighboring departments in Springfield, Hanska, Comfrey, and New Ulm within Brown County, as well as Morgan in adjacent Redwood County because the coverage areas touch.

Officer Matt Roiger explained the police role on scene: “Our job is basically just to help with the scene, just kind of keep people away.”

Sleepy Eye Police Chief Matt Andres oversees the department’s participation in these joint exercises. 

He said that many of the mock victims were young people — including high school seniors and lifeguards — chosen because they are strong swimmers. 

The exercise continued at the Sleepy Eye Medical Center where staff simulated receiving and triaging patients in a full mass-casualty scenario using real-life persons pretending to be victims. 

Chief Andres also explained the jurisdictional split: Sleepy Eye Police Department authority ends at the waterline, while the Brown County Sheriff’s Office has jurisdiction over the lake and handles searches and investigations on the water. 

He said the department tries to conduct these joint drills every two years.

Deanne Ibberson, Gloria Nachreiner, and Wendy Ringhofer with Sleepy Eye Ambulance, along with other EMTs, helped with patient transport during the drill.

As far as water safety advice, Schauman said lack of experience is a major factor.

“Young drivers that don’t really know how to use the boat real well is part of it,” he said.

He said heavy boat traffic and people feeling they have the right of way are also frequent contributors to accidents.

Lori Neidecker, the medical center’s emergency preparedness nurse, was one of the key planners. 

She said the drill was the result of more than a year of coordination among all participating agencies. 

“Preparedness is something we build long before an emergency happens,” she said. “Every time we train together, we strengthen our ability to respond, communicate, and care for our community when it matters most.”

Mikayla Bruggeman of the Sleepy Eye Medical Center documented the drill with photographs and served as a media contact. She was impressed with “the strong collaboration and dedication of everyone involved.”

Jeff Zinniel of the Sleepy Eye Fire Department said his three sons, members of the New Ulm Fire Department, volunteered to drive the victim boats (the pontoon and fishing boat) during the exercise.

Maya Hornick, a nursing assistant from Divine Providence, brought resident Willie Lochner in his wheelchair to watch the drill. “One of my residents knows about it and he wanted to come over,” she said. She added that it was “a perfect night” for the community to see first responders in action.

The Fire Department encourages community members interested in volunteering to reach out. Similar drills are planned periodically.