Staff from Kalispell Regional Medical Center, North Valley Hospital and the Whitefish Fire Department will participate in an emergency communications drill Friday morning, testing their ability to coordinate in the event of an active shooting at a local high school.

The training will involve emergency communications only. There will be no physical shooting simulation and no medical or law enforcement response, a Kalispell Regional spokesman said.

"These operational-based, functional exercises are complex events that require detailed planning," Chelsia Elmore, the emergency preparedness manager at Kalispell Regional, said in a statement.

"Exercises such as this one allow us to assess our abilities to receive and share real-time information and maintain shared situation awareness between impacted facilities as well as the public," she said. "Practicing these events helps us uncover opportunities for improvement and be prepared for real-world emergencies."

Kalispell Regional said "all local first responders have been informed of the exercise, and all communications throughout the drill will be clearly defined as exercises."

The drill is scheduled to begin at 10:45 a.m. and wrap up by noon.

Reporter Chad Sokol can be reached at 758-4439 or csokol@dailyinterlake.com