Mock disasters test first responders preparedness

Whitley County EMS officials discuss how to handle 19 patients with various injuries during a mock airplane disaster Monday morning, which was held at Ballard Ford East. This drill was held simultaneously with a second mock disaster near Corbin.

The weather was dreary, damp and wet Monday morning. Rain was misting making working conditions wetter and more slippery than they would be in good weather.

In other words, the weather for two mock disasters held simultaneously Monday morning in Whitley County was much like the weather emergency responders normally deal with during a real disaster. Terrible.

“It is typical,” noted Whitley County EMS Director Danny Moses. “If you’ll notice our multi car pile-ups are usually caused by rain or snow. So the weather has a lot to do with it.”

Whitley County Projects Director Amber Owens, who helped organize the event, said that organizers spent about four months planning the mock disasters.

“Obviously we hope nothing like this ever happens, but if it does we want our first responders to be prepared,” she added.

The first of the two disaster scenarios Monday dealt with a simulated plane crash.

The scenario was that a plane carrying 20 people was heading to the Williamsburg Whitley County Airport but that crashed at Ballard Ford East near the river access point. The scenario also called for two campers to be injured by flying debris from the crash.

The scenario simulated three deceased victims and several others with varying degrees of injury.

Whitley County High School JROTC students and University of the Cumberlands students were made up to look like real crash victims that first responders encountered when the reached the crash scene.

“It is pretty realistic. We actually put make-up on the victims. They had what looked like actual real life injuries,” Owens said.

About 50 – 75 first responders, including Whitley County EMS, Whitley County Emergency Management and numerous volunteer firefighters from Goldbug, Patterson Creek, Emlyn, Pleasant View and South Whitley volunteer fire departments took part in the plane disaster scenario in addition to Williamsburg Fire and Rescue.

Only high-level officials for each department had prior knowledge about the mock disasters ahead of time.

“The first responders knew very little or nothing about this before it was paged out,” Owens added.

Second disaster

About 15 minutes after first responders were notified about the plane crash mock disaster; they were notified about a second mock disaster.

The second disaster simulated a train derailment and chemical spill near General Shale Brick just outside Corbin of Ky. 26.

Corbin Fire and Police departments, Woodbine, Rockholds and Oak Grove fire departments, Whitley County EMS and Laurel County Emergency Management were among those who responded.

“We partnered with Laurel and Knox counties on this disaster and their emergency management directors are incident command on that scene,” Owens noted. “Laurel County and Pulaski County brought down their hazmat teams. It has been a group effort.”

Two witnesses approached the first responders, telling them one of the train cars had exploded. Based on the markings the witnesses described, the first responders determined that the car contained sulfur dioxide.

With that information, the first responders went to work setting up their decontamination tent to treat patients prior to transport, while others donned decontamination suits to retrieve the victims from the area.

“It was good to get everybody together,” said Corbin Fire Chief Barry McDonald. “We have not done that in a long time.”

McDonald said with the CSX train yard just feet from the fire department, his firefighters are constantly training on how to respond should one of car develop a leak or an accident release on of the assorted substances.

While the firefighters don’t receive a manifest of what is in the yard at a given time, McDonald said CSX officials have provided the department with a list of the substances that are transported through Corbin so firefighters may stay abreast of what they may face.

“We have done training with CSX as well and even done mock disasters at the rail yard,” McDonald said.

“I was proud of everybody,” McDonald added.

Beneficial training

Moses noted that the training was “very real” if first responders came in with an open mind.

“These students, who played the parts, if you looked at any of them real close, their injuries would be the same as if a plane had crashed. You would see the same type of injuries,” Moses said.

Whitley County EMS Director Kelly Harrison noted that one of the bigger benefits of training scenarios like the ones Monday is that it enables first responders to make mistakes and learn from them while real lives aren’t on the line.

“Without training like this, we wouldn’t know how to handle that. This is why we do this type of training,” Harrison said. “The more we do here. The more that we get the training, the better we will be able to help the patients of Whitley County.”

Goldbug Firefighter Dorman Patrick Jr., who coordinated all the firefighters at Monday’s mock airplane disaster, echoed some similar sentiments noting the biggest area of improvement that he saw needed to be made before the next disaster was in the area of communications.

“We have learned a lot today. I believe that next time we can make some improvements definitely,” Patrick said. “Everybody made an excellent effort today.”

Why two disasters?

“A lot of times in a real life disaster you are going to have multiple things going on,” Owens said. “It is not going to always be one scene. You are always going to get another call. It may not be to this scale, but it does prepare them for that situation.”

Moses agreed that two disasters at once isn’t something uncommon at all.

“It is very common in inclement weather with snow events. It is very common,” he added.

Owens said she was pleased with the turnout for the two mock disasters.

“I want to thank everybody for coming out. This is a much better turnout than I expected the way the weather is,” Owens said. “Everybody has done a phenomenal job responding and treating this as real life incident.”