Ill. Agencies Test Teamwork During Airplane Crash Drill

Sept. 12--Parents of about 60 Capital Area Career Center students probably had to look twice when they received a field trip permission form for their children to participate in an airplane crash.

But the crash -- the subject of a full-scale disaster training exercise by about 30 local, state, federal and private agencies Monday morning at Lincoln Park -- also was a training exercise for the EMT and law enforcement students who portrayed crash victims.

"They get to see what they'd be doing in their careers," said Dan Nichols, law enforcement instructor at CACC.

The aircraft accident simulation is required once every three years by the Federal Aviation Administration, said Mark Hanna, executive director of Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport. He said the years in between, the airport conducts table-top and paper exercises.

"It takes a whole community of first-responders to secure the scene, separate and transport the wounded," he said. "A lot of these agencies use this for internal training as well."

As firefighters, EMTs and police made their way through the debris field that included two cars covered with tarps to simulate an airplane fuselage and plane parts scattered over the grassy area just west of the lighted softball diamond at the park, they looked at the colored cards and printed notes the "victims" carried to determine how badly they were injured. Some were black-tagged as being deceased.

One student had an airplane propeller across his lap and reported a broken pelvis. Others wore makeup to represent open wounds and blood.

Hanna said that at the same time the victims were going through triage, there was activity at Capital Airport. There officials made simulated phone calls to the airline involved, set up a media center and family-support center and simulated the airport closing.

Springfield Fire Marshal Chris Richmond said the drill allows the various agencies "to get comfortable working together, to find out what capabilities each of the responders has."

In addition to police and fire departments and private ambulances, the Springfield Mass Transit District, Springfield Park District Police, Salvation Army, Red Cross and others participated and responded as they would had it been a real disaster.

Scanner traffic indicated that both engines of the aircraft were down, with an estimated time of arrival at the airport in five minutes.

"We will be projecting to the hospitals -- Memorial Medical Center and St. John's -- the number of patients they may be expecting," Richmond said. "We're making sure the down-line folks are ready to accept what's coming."

Victims with burns are taken to Memorial and children to St. John's, he said. Victims heading to emergency rooms are divided equally.

- "The major aspect of this is correlation," Richmond said.

David Butt, director of the Sangamon County Office of Emergency Management, agreed.

"The community wants to know how well we work together," he said.

"The responders are our partners for innumerable scenarios that could occur," he said. "Everyone gets it (the drill) on their calendars. It's one more opportunity for everyone to get together."

Butt said Springfield is fortunate to have two Level 1 trauma centers "who work so well together in emergency medicine."

He said the exercise also is an opportunity to consider needed updates to mass-casualty incident planning.

"The potential need for that is a result of nationwide best practices," Butt said. "What happened in Orlando (the nightclub shooting earlier this year) -- our hospitals are thinking about that. We support them, and this is a perfect example of how everyone supports the entire community."

Following the triage, the injured victims were taken by ambulance to the two hospitals, and the drill continued there. By early afternoon, the student volunteers were on buses -- not planes -- and headed back to school.

Hanna said the airport would review the drill with other agencies at a later date, and the agencies themselves likely will have their own reviews and evaluations.

"Not all disasters are going to occur on a perfect fall morning," he said. "So there are just some things, like bad weather or darkness, that we can't simulate."

-- Contact Chris Dettro: chris.dettro@sj-r.com, 788-1510, twitter.com/ChrisDettroSJR.

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