Photo By Lesley Atkinson | Fort Lee firefighters practice medical evacuation procedures with role-playing victims...... read more read more
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FORT LEE, Va. (Nov. 24, 2016) -- First responders from Fort Lee and staff members from the Petersburg Federal Correctional Complex teamed up for a simulated mass casualty exercise Nov. 15-16 at the FCC neighboring the installation.
The drill is one of the correctional facility’s regular training requirements. It allows correctional officers and support staff to rehearse their response procedures to catastrophic events and the partnership agreements with local emergency teams – including Fort Lee’s – that would assist with casualty evacuation and incident mitigation.
A simulated bus crash served as the centerpiece of this latest exercise. The role-player “victims” were members of the Fort Lee Air Force Detachment, 345th Training Squadron. The Airmen wore yellow coveralls and leg and ankle restraints in the interest of making the training event as close to real as possible. A smoke machine also was used for dramatic effect and realism.
The scene played out as if the bus was heading to the FCC and rolled over in an accident. Prisoners and correctional officers were tossed throughout the vehicle with multiple injuries. To simulate this part of situation, the role players were placed under seats, in the aisles and on top of each other. Each “victim” carried a card describing the extent of his or her injuries.
Staff members of the nearby FCC facility were first to arrive at the scene. Abimael Zayas from its emergency response team described the moment as “overwhelming.”
“When we showed up, the bus was smoking and the first thing we had to consider was whether it was safe for us to enter,” he said. “Once we got the go, we went in and got to work. We started tagging the bodies and setting up the triage stations. When Fort Lee got here, they helped us move them out. The camaraderie was great. We have a good relationship with Fort Lee and something like this allows us to take advantage of our combined logistics.”
Fire Assistant Chief Christopher Steckel oversaw Fort Lee’s participation in the exercise. He’s the assistant chief of the Training Division, Fire and Emergency Services.
“The response was pretty much by the book,” he said. “They established a triage area and took care of the walking wounded. Our job is to assist them with treatment of the more serious injuries and provide transportation to emergency medical facilities.”
“Practicing roles and responsibilities is key,” Steckel noted. “Chaos reduces the effectiveness of first responders; and in a situation involving mass casualties, confusion could cause further harm to victims. We’ve worked with the folks from FCC on previous exercises within the prison compound; we knew we could easily combine our efforts to mitigate the emergency pretty quickly. It’s training like this that keeps both agencies proficient in working together.”
At the conclusion of the exercise, Stacy Flowers, an FCC nurse practitioner, gave high marks to the organizers and role players.
“It was definitely beneficial,” she said. “Practice is imperative to saving lives in a real situation. This drill helped us see what we need to improve upon. I think it went well, and it was a lot more involved than what I thought it was going to be. This was definitely a learning experience.”
Riley Lawson, an observer and an FCC general foreman, stated, “I think it went very well. Working as a team helps us prepare for any type of scenarios that might happen. I really appreciate the Fort Lee firefighters, medics and role-players coming here and helping make this thing happen.”
Staff at both the Fort Lee Fire and Emergency Services Division and FCC Petersburg said they look forward to future trainings, continued partnerships and camaraderie.
| Date Taken: | 11.23.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 11.23.2016 15:29 |
| Story ID: | 215739 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 14 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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