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REGIONAL: Mass casualty drill planned at Charles M. Schulz airport
The drill is scheduled to take place from 10 a.m. to noon.
This type of training is mandated by the FAA and must be conducted at least once every three years to evaluate the operational readiness of the fire district, the airport and other emergency responders.
This two-hour, unrehearsed drill, will simulate an aircraft accident involved in fire and resulting in mass casualties.
With the recent expansion of the airport and its terminals, authorities in Sonoma County are seeing an increase in call volumes to the airport.
“As responders, it’s our duty to be prepared for any type of emergency no matter how big or small; prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” organizers said.
Rincon Valley Fire Protection District and local emergency responders regularly train for all aspects of aircraft emergencies such as, extrication and rescue, mass casualty, aircraft fire and hazard mitigation.
This drill will focus on passenger rescue, emergency medical intervention and fire suppression.
“Exercises like the one we are conducting affirm the Rincon Valley Fire Protection District’s commitment to train like lives depend on it, because they do,” said Rincon Valley and Windsor Fire Chief Mark Heine. “We want to ensure that we are prepared to protect our community as well as visitors to our beautiful county. Having a commercial airport in our jurisdiction is a big responsibility and the public at large should feel safe in knowing that their first responders know how to deal with an aircraft emergency, whatever the scale.”
In the event of an actual passenger aircraft crash, Rincon Valley Fire Protection District and the airport will need the assistance of numerous Sonoma County emergency response agencies.
Agencies involved in Wednesday’s drill will include: Charles M. Schulz – Sonoma County Airport, Rincon Valley Fire, Windsor Fire, Healdsburg Fire, Forestville Fire, Santa Rosa Fire, Cal Fire, Red Cross, Sonoma County Fire and Emergency Services, Sonoma Life Support, Bells Ambulance, Coastal Valley EMS, Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department, Reach, REDCOM and the Oakland USAR Task Force-4 K-9 teams.
They also will be working with Memorial and Petaluma Valley Hospitals, which will be accepting the drill’s simulated patients.