CHARLESTON TOWNSHIP (WKZO)– The Big Pile up on I-94 in January was it the largest traffic wreck in Michigan History, and Wednesday they will be looking back to see what they can learn from it.
The chain-reaction in Charleston Township in January involved 193 vehicles, killed one person and hospitalized two dozen others.
Wednesday afternoon was set aside to review what happened, what could have happened better and what should not have happened.
The idea is to learn lessons so they are better prepared should it ever happen again.
Lt. Ken High, a disaster specialist with the Michigan State Police says the local response was just short of textbook in his opinion, a nine out of ten.
He says the one shortcoming was communications and dispatch which was scrambled and confused in the beginning. That would come as no surprise to local police and fire agencies who have been calling for consolidated dispatch in Kalamazoo County for years.
Lt. High says that day they all eventually flipped over to a state Police emergency frequency to get on the same page, but it took a while.