Partly cloudy skies. High 68F. Winds WNW at 15 to 25 mph..
Clear. Low 48F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.
Emergency and rescue personnel remove passengers from a mock airplane during a crash drill Thursday at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.
An ARFF (Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting) truck extinguishes fire at a mock crash of an airplane Thursday at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.
Londonderry Police and other emergency and rescue personnel converge on the runway for a mock crash Thursday at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.
Emergency and rescue personnel converge on the runway at a mock crash Thursday at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.
Emergency and rescue personnel converge on a mock crash of an airplane during a drill Thursday at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.
Emergency and rescue personnel organize patients on the runway during a crash drill Thursday at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.
Emergency and rescue personnel remove passengers from a mock airplane during a crash drill Thursday at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.
An ARFF (Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting) truck extinguishes fire at a mock crash of an airplane Thursday at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.
Londonderry Police and other emergency and rescue personnel converge on the runway for a mock crash Thursday at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.
Emergency and rescue personnel converge on the runway at a mock crash Thursday at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.
Emergency and rescue personnel converge on a mock crash of an airplane during a drill Thursday at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.
Emergency and rescue personnel organize patients on the runway during a crash drill Thursday at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.
Manchester-Boston Regional Airport’s crash phones rang Thursday morning at 9.
But the call was expected.
The ringing phone set in motion an emergency response to a mock airplane crash.
The crash drill, required by the Federal Aviation Administration at major airports once every three years, included more than 200 people, including first-responders from across the region and dozens of crash victims — many of them students in nursing programs.
The actions gave responders experience in communications and coordination in a major incident, as well as extinguishing a burning “aircraft,” while also evacuating, treating and transporting patients.
The drill began with word from the air traffic control tower that an Airbus 319 plane had crashed on Runway 6. The drill concluded around noon after 75 patients had been transported to three area hospitals.
Thursday’s drill was an opportunity for responders and others to uncover areas they can improve upon, said Ted Kitchens, Manchester-Boston’s airport director.
“I’d rather find that out on a sunny, beautiful 65-degree day in September than when there is an actual incident, which, God forbid, never happens,” he said. “You want to make the actual event as easy as possible because it is going to be stressful enough. You need to be able to think quick and respond.”
Airport Fire and Rescue Chief James Carrier said the scenario was this: Upon final approach to the runway, the plane’s left engine failed after two drones flew into it.
The Airbus banked left and its landing gear collapsed resulting in a crash on the runway with 80 passengers and four crew aboard. The crash site was at the beginning of the 1.5-mile long runway, at the 1,500 feet marker.
The dummy aircraft was a set of school buses wrapped neatly in black plastic with a rounded front and vertical stabilizer at the rear. A barrel behind the facsimile aircraft erupted in flames and smoke.
An ARFF (Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting) truck extinguished the flames. An incident command post with mobile communications was set-up with representatives from fire, law enforcement, airport operations directing the response.
Thursday’s exercise set in motion a response that in a real disaster could have brought help from 75 agencies including Merrimack Valley departments from Methuen and, in New Hampshire, Atkinson, Derry, Hampstead, Londonderry, Pelham, Plaistow, Salem, Sandown and Windham.
On Thursday it brought scores of participating firefighters and rescue personnel to extinguish the flames and triage the victims.
Among them were Rob Beaulieu and Connor Lonergan, two of Hampstead Fire Department’s seven full-time firefighters.
They responded in an ambulance and staged with other departments at the Mall of New Hampshire until called to the airfield to help triage patients — gauge severity of injuries and prioritize care.
The crash victims were moulaged — made-up to appear injured. Some screamed. They wore tags indicating their injuries.
“It’s extremely helpful to practice triage skills,” Lonergan said.
Hampstead fire Capt. Chris Dane has attended previous exercises at the Manchester airport. He said the drill familiarizes crews with the airport grounds, and gives them experience working in large groups and in making triage assessments.
The victims wore neon-green T-shirts, were evacuated from the aircraft to a patient area on the runway then moved nearby to one of three color-coded areas (red, yellow, green), as needed, based on the extent of their injuries.
Seventy-five victims were transported, 25 to each of three hospitals, Parkland Medical Center in Derry, and Catholic Medical Center and Elliot Hospital in Manchester.
The volunteer victims, including future nurses and emergency technicians, got to walk in the shoes of the injured, gaining a better sense of what a disaster victim experiences.
One of the critically injured patients, Michael Badeau, of Hudson, New Hampshire, was moulaged with a head wound. Badeau, a recently certified medical emergency responder, said he was impressed by the extensive coordination among police, fire and EMS people.
The transporting of patients to area hospitals was a significant change to this year’s exercise, and was intended to test the surge capabilities of the medical facilities in the area, Carrier said.
He said the airport fire and rescue service will review the after-action report from Thursday’s transports to the hospitals and then talk to the administrators there to see how things went on their end and determine if any changes to the airport’s emergency response plan are in order.
Tom Malafronte, deputy airport director, said on Thursday that evaluators from fire safety, emergency management and operations were at the exercise taking notes and at the end of the day, critiqued the response.
“Not only are we testing our existing procedures,” Malafronte said, “but we are also soliciting feedback from the experts we have brought out to evaluate each piece of our emergency response to see how we can improve our response.”
He said the airport learns how to improve its emergency response plan.
“The post-drill debrief concluded that the exercise was a success and met our goals and objectives,” he said. “We will continue to work with our mutual aid partners throughout the year to enhance emergency response and communications procedures to ensure that we are prepared to meet the challenges of an actual emergency.”
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Home delivery and Digital Access customers of The Eagle-Tribune get deals for restaurants, hotels, attractions and other businesses, locally and across the country.
Play sudoku, the daily jigsaw, word search and more.
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.
Sign up now to get our FREE breaking news coverage delivered right to your inbox.
First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.