PREPARING FOR THE WORST CASE
Avon – Rescuers from around Lorain County came together Saturday morning for a drill dealing with a Mass Casualty Incident.The scene: A tornado strikes Avon during a high school football game. A set of bleachers, loaded with fans, is struck. The bleachers collapse, trapping people below and throwing others across the grounds of the school.
As Police and Firefighters arrived they had to deal with triaging victims and accessing their needs in way of mutual aid from surrounding communities.
Chief Frank Root of the Avon Fire Department said that the day was a full fledge countywide drill. “Aside from our Police, Fire and EMS crews, we utilized a wide range of other government agencies ranging from the Urban Search & Rescue to the Community Emergency Response Team, Lorain County Emergency Management Agency, the Emergency Operations Center was opened – and wonderful support from communities around us.”
Root said that the drill went very well with many lessons learned. “Although today went very well there are always things that you can do better – but that’s why we drill, so we can pick these things apart and find where our shortcomings are and improve on them. I’d like to see a smoother flow from the triage to the treatment area and treatment area to transport so that it’s one fluid move with the victims.”The goal in a MCI is that all victims are transported within two hours; Root said they achieved that goal during the drill. “We had everybody through the treatment area within an hour and that was a pretty good goal as well. Over all I believe it was a very worthwhile event and now the work will continue as we access everything that happened here today and make whatever changes that we believe necessary.”
Root said that Saturday’s drill would not have been possible without the hard work from many people in the community. “Along with all of the Rescuers we had about 40 people volunteer to play victims and they are adults and kids from groups like Avon High School S.A.D.D. program and the Elyria Boy Scouts Troop 139 from Elyria. They were here very early to be prepped on what they would be doing and also to have makeup applied to make their wounds look authentic. They were a tremendous help and greatly appreciated.”
Some of the agencies participating in Saturday’s event were Firefighters from Avon, Avon Lake, North Ridgeville, Elyria Township, Eaton Township, Columbia Township and Sheffield Township. Lorain County Urban Search and Rescue – Lorain County Emergency Management Agency & the Lorain County Emergency Operations Center – The Lorain County Chapter of the American Red Cross Disaster Services – The Lorain County Damage Assessment Team – Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) – Metro LifeFlight - Local Amateur Radio Operators and the Avon Emergency Care Center.
Root said that Saturday’s drill would not have been possible without the hard work from many people in the community. “Along with all of the Rescuers we had about 40 people volunteer to play victims and they are adults and kids from groups like Avon High School S.A.D.D. program and the Elyria Boy Scouts Troop 139 from Elyria. They were here very early to be prepped on what they would be doing and also to have makeup applied to make their wounds look authentic. They were a tremendous help and greatly appreciated.”Some of the agencies participating in Saturday’s event were Firefighters from Avon, Avon Lake, North Ridgeville, Elyria Township, Eaton Township, Columbia Township and Sheffield Township. Lorain County Urban Search and Rescue – Lorain County Emergency Management Agency & the Lorain County Emergency Operations Center – The Lorain County Chapter of the American Red Cross Disaster Services – The Lorain County Damage Assessment Team – Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) – Metro LifeFlight - Local Amateur Radio Operators and the Avon Emergency Care Center.
Update: Also included in Saturday’s drill was County Animal Rescue & Evacuation (C.A.R.E.)
Photos by: BRIAN WOODS & TMC
posted by TMC NEWS at 5:22 PM
3 Comments:
Very nice event. Very cool to see various departments from around the county helping out and on hand. Stay safe everyone!
I always loved how, during these big county drills, LifeCare was never included to the extent that they are integrated into the 911 system. Why whould you want to include a agency with more ambulances than the whole county total and a BUS that is available nearly 24/7? Is it because they're private versus public?
I would suggest that "Mabe" talk to the jurisdictions that are served by LifeCare and ask then to hold an exercise. I can guarantee you would be there.
And by the way, there is a full scale hazmat drill tomorrow night in the City of Lorain and LifeCare will be the primary EMS units.
In looking at our past 4 drills, LifeCare has been part of 3 of them.
Please give me a call so I can gain an understanding of the "extent that they are integrated into the 9-1-1 System in Lorain County".
Tom Kelley
Emergency Management Director
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