News

Conn. Holds Drill to Prepare for Mass Casualty Incidents

Amanda Cuda

10/26/2016

Oct. 26--WINDSOR LOCKS -- A Metro-North train lay on its side along a short length of track outside the New England Disaster Training Center at Camp Hartell.

Strewn around the train were dummies, meant to simulate dead bodies, victims of a terrorist bombing on the train. But there were no real casualties here -- just a chance to learn.

Tuesday was the first day of a three-day, mass-fatality training exercise at Camp Hartell, which is a military installation in Windsor Locks. The event, coordinated by the state Department of Public Health, will test how well state and federal emergency management and law enforcement personnel respond in the face of a catastrophe.

"This is a good opportunity get our people trained on an event this large," said Jonathan Best, director of public health preparedness and response for the state health department.

The scene at the train tracks was meant to simulate a terrorist bombing at the Stamford train station that took 200 lives. The overturned train that served as the mock accident site was donated by Metro-North specifically for training.

In addition to the attack scene, Department of Health staff set up a tent that functioned as a mobile morgue. It was designed to seal out the elements and to withstand winds up 10 mph. The tent was a place where responders could take fingerprints, perform X-rays, take DNA samples and use other methods to identify bodies.

Best said no one ever knows where or when a catastrophic event will take place. Until a few years ago, he said, no one would have dreamed that a town with a population of fewer than 28,000 people would be the site of a mass shooting. But the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown showed that tragedy can happen anywhere.

"It's important to remain sharp," Best said. "There's no way to predict" these events.

About 300 responders came to the first day of training on Tuesday, and roughly the same amount were expected for the next two days of the drill. Tuesday's events included a series of talks from representatives of different agencies, such as the state medical examiner's office. Participants then toured the mock crash site, and were led through how they should respond in an actual emergency.

It can take police, medical personnel and other responders five to six days to fully process a tragedy such as a terrorist attack on a train, Best said. The training exercise was supposed to take place on the second or third day following the attack, "when all the live victims had been removed," Best said.

Those participating in Tuesday's training included Jim Paturas, director of disaster preparedness and emergency response for Yale New Haven Health System, which including Yale New Haven Hospital, Bridgeport Hospital and Greenwich Hospital. He said he's been to training exercises like this one before, and they're always a good opportunity.

"It also brings all of the partners to the table together," Paturas said. That includes law enforcement, health care agencies, emergency medical personnel and others.

"All of us in the emergency business plan for things that could happen," Paturas said. "But to get together and talk about things that have actually happened and how people responded is really valuable."