Fire departments, MedStar engage in mass casualty incident training

Those driving past the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport on Tuesday afternoon were likely greeted with an alarming sight.

Multiple ambulances and fire trucks sat parked near the east end of the runway where 22 people were sprawled on the grass. Near them were the remnants of a plane crash.

One by one, the people were loaded onto gurneys and placed into vehicles.

Fortunately, it was all just a drill.

Pullman and Moscow Fire Departments joined Whitman County Fire District 12, Northwest MedStar, the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport fire station and Colfax Fire Department in a training simulation of a mass casualty incident. In this case, that incident was a plane wreck.

Washington State University students from the Chi Omega sorority volunteered to play the "victims" and patiently lay in the grass as firefighters and EMTs tended to them. Next to them were some scrap parts of an airplane meant to simulate the crash site.

Lt. Cory Carpenter from the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport fire station said crews are required to perform this Federal Aviation Administration-mandated drill once every three years. Incidents like these require as much help from local emergency agencies as possible, he said, so it's important they are trained to coordinate with each other in response to a disaster.

"They don't work together all that often, so it's good to get everyone on the same page," he said.

Bob Montgomery, respiratory therapist for MedStar, said the students were either labeled as dead, in need of immediate attention or walking wounded - meaning they could take care of themselves. The firefighters and EMTs had to assess each patient and tell the paramedics which ones should be taken to the hospital.

For MedStar, that hospital could be Gritman Medical Center in Moscow, Pullman Regional Hospital or Whitman Hospital in Colfax, all places it can transport patients to in less than 10 minutes from the airport, he said.

Of course a drill cannot simulate everything. Montgomery said the runway would be shut down during a real incident, with no planes arriving or leaving. He also said there would likely be a fire and hazardous materials - like gasoline - at the scene.

Carpenter said they ideally should be prepared to handle a crash involving nearly 80 people to account for commercial airplanes. However, most incidents that occur at the airport, he said, involve medical calls or planes sliding off the runway.

Though it was just a drill, Tuesday's simulation offered a lot of positives.

"It went very well," said airport fire chief Alex Aegerter said.

The only hiccups were a shortage of certain equipment and problems receiving information from dispatch, Aegerter said.

He said it went better than their last simulation when they experienced problems with the radio system. This time around, each agency was able to communicate with each other effectively and each crew member knew their role.

"Everyone worked together," he said. "Everyone knew where to go."

Anthony Kuipers can be reached at (208) 883-4630, or by email to akuipers@dnews.com.