Flames erupted as emergency personnel rushed to Honolulu airport Wednesday. It was an exercise to get first responders prepared for a plane crash.
The exercise simulates one of the worst case scenarios that can happen at an airport. A commercial airliner has crashed trying to land. There are nearly 150 casualties.
"They range from dead to critical, to seriously injured to stable," explained Department of Transportation spokesman Dan Meisenzahl.
Firefighters from the city, state and federal agencies took part in the drill. Some wearing what’s known as proximity suits, to withstand industrial fires which burn hotter than structure fires. Their priority is to get to the injured and bring them to a safe area for medical help.
The Coast Guard and other military units were also involved along with the state civil defense and emergency medical services. The test is required by the Federal Aviation Administration every three years for airport certification. So many different organizations are involved and the idea is for them to communicate and work together.
"That’s why we do these drills, because if this was a real life situation, the more every segment is communicating with each other the more we’re on the same page, the better chance we have of saving lives," Meisenzahl says.
Those lives being saved by this drill are volunteers, about 250 students from HPU, UH, and Chaminade University. Acting skills were necessary for some, whose medical conditions changed to pose a greater challenge to the emergency responders.
"We had some patients that appeared to be in stable condition and they took them into a triage area which wasn’t so serious, and all of a sudden they start having some episode where they might be dying," Meisenzahl says.
Observers with the FAA will evaluate how the different agencies reacted. Whatever went wrong here can then be corrected.
"If it does ever happen, heaven forbid, we’ve already been through it in a way so we know where to go we know who to talk to, where to respond," Meisenzahl says.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
