Columbus Airport conducts mock plane crash for first responders
COLUMBUS, Ga (WRBL) — The Columbus Airport hosted a plane crash simulation to train first responders for aircraft-related emergencies.
The training is a full-scale exercise that involves an aircraft transportation incident with simulated injuries.
This training is done twice a year. In this exercise, responders trained on a realistic scenario caused by human error. The scenario involved a collision of an aircraft coming into the airport and a helicopter taking off.
The training ensures the airport first responders are equipped to respond to the scene of the accident in three minutes while also calling for mutual aid from Columbus first responders including the Columbus Police Department, Fire and EMS, the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office, partner hospitals, and other resources.
Chance Corbett, the Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management for Columbus shared the importance of this training.
“We want to ensure that our first responders first time ever responding to something like this isn’t when it actually happens,” Corbett stated.
The training simulated an actual police call where responders focused on asking for resources and aid needed to handle the emergency.
“If you don’t call for it, you don’t get it. “
Chance Corbett, Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management for Columbus
Amber Clarke, The Director of the Columbus Airport also weighed in on the exercise.
She says, “You can plan and train for things, but as you experience it in a drill, then you see things that you didn’t see before.“
Clarke also shared with WRBL that the training was not just for the first responders, but also for the other faculty at the airport working with patrons who could potentially witness an aircraft emergency.
Clarke says the airport has teams that handle passengers or families who may be coming to ask questions. As well as the maintenance team that is in charge of gates, allowing access, and helping with debris. This also includes the FBO team that ensures people are off the field and protected.
Chance Corbett told WRBL that the training was successful and explained how.
He said, “The response both by the way the calls came into 911 to bring in the outside agencies from Columbus and Fort Moore. All the communication went very well, dispatch went great.”
Corbett continued, “We had three stations worth of fire apparatus show up which is amazing with the personnel that was here. They quickly were able to extinguish the fire from the helicopter and then started triaging the wounded people that were here on the second scene on the airport terminal.”
The success of this training at the airport allowed for PIedmont Hospital and St. Francis to train with their staff regarding the influx of patients needing medical care from an aircraft-related emergency.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WRBL.
