CHICOPEE — Imagine waking up to find that electronic technology has stopped working. Cellphones are down, traffic signals are dark and navigation systems are offline. The infrastructure behind modern life would be completely shut down, eventually impacting even the distribution of food and water.

It sounds like something out of an apocalyptic sci-fi thriller, but it’s rooted entirely in reality — the effect of a massive electromagnetic pulse.

This is the scene that Col. Gregory Buchanan, commander 439th Airlift Wing of Air Force Reserve stationed at Westover Air Reserve Base, set at a collaborative training event among officials from the base, the Chicopee Emergency Planning Comission and the city of Chicopee. The training on Tuesday morning focused on preparing the Pioneer Valley for the effects of electromagnetic pulses (EMP).

In Buchanan’s imagined scenario, it was an enemy’s nuclear weapon that emitted the debilitating pulse, but EMPs can occur in a number of ways — even through naturally occurring solar flares.

“More than ever before, we rely on the community, we depend on the community. The community is part of the team,” said Buchanan. “It’s all about community resiliency.”

The training was lauded as one of the first military-municipal collaborations in the nation regarding EMPs, modeled after a similar series of training workshops in San Antonio, Texas. Its purpose was to assess municipal response capabilities with existing resources, and to examine potential vulnerabilities that need to be fortified while also educating local emergency response agencies, hospitals, and other entities on the dangers of EMPs.

The chief causes of large-scale EMPs are solar flares, electromagnetic bombs, and nuclear weapons. They can occur close to the Earth’s surface or at high altitudes, causing widespread damage to electronic devices. The powerful electromagnetic field produced by an EMP can short-circuit infrastructure from satellites to smartphones. Low-level EMPs can temporarily interfere with electronic systems, while higher-level EMPs can cause long-lasting damage.

“You can imagine what that means for hospitals … what that means for even getting to work,” Buchanan said.

By understanding the local impacts of widespread grid outages, Chicopee and Westover hope to limit the need for significant federal response in western Massachusetts in the event of an EMP. But as societal dependence on electronic technology continues to increase, so does potential vulnerability to the damage and disruption caused by EMPs.

“We’ve known about this issue since 1962,” explained workshop presenter Terry Boston, who previously served on the National Infrastructure Advisory Council. “We are more vulnerable today than we were, perhaps, back then.”

To collectively learn and prepare for the possibility of EMP damage in the region, the training brought groups of local officials and stakeholders together for “tabletop exercises.” These discussion-based exercises run teams through fabricated but realistic scenarios that allow them to gain a better understanding of possible local impacts, responses and mitigation measures that can be taken in advance of possible EMP events.

The effects of an EMP can compound over time, as distribution capabilities, lines of communication, and other services continue to be put under enormous strain. To prepare for this, the exercises asked participants to think of both short-term and long-term preparation. Groups were also given varying resources, and tasked with asking questions about the benefits of having certain additional resources as well as the potential unintended consequences of those resources.

Part of why Buchanan called the training “absolutely critical” is because it brings EMP preparedness and infrastructure resilience to the forefront in a municipal setting where public safety officials lack awareness of threats such as EMPs.

As he reminded those gathered at the Chicopee Public Safety Complex, EMP attacks are being used right now in ongoing conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, causing debilitating blackouts.

“I think we’re setting some precedent here,” said Chicopee Mayor John Vieau. “EMPs are not just from the sun. They’re happening in war and they’re happening now.”

Vieau noted that public safety is “something he ran on as mayor” and something he continues to focus on prioritizing in Chicopee, especially by “making sure that Chicopee is being proactive” through trainings like this one. Vieau and Buchanan stated that they hope to build off of this pilot program, continuing a long-lasting partnership between the city and Westover Air Reserve Base to host future programming on threats such as EMPs and cyberattacks.

“Hopefully some other communities will take some notes on being proactive,” said Vieau.

Alexa Lewis can be reached at alewis@gazettenet.com.