STORY
AND PHOTOS BY VOLNEY DUNAVAN
dunavan@netptc.net
Emergency vehicles begin a staging area at the site of a plane crash
at Yosemite High School. Rescue was delayed while the HAZMAT team
evaluated the area for toxic agents and spilled jet fuel. Following
removal of a sealed canister, the site was cleared for emergency
personnel to enter.
The GMC Airbus, a Sky West commuter plane, crashed late Saturday
on a field at Yosemite High School. The plane bears a faint resemblance
to the school bus that was hit by a terrorist van during the 2003
Eastern Madera County Disaster Drill.
Members of the Fresno Hazardous Materials (HAZMAT) response team
can be seen inside the GMC Aerobus that crash landed at Yosemite
High School this past weekend. In addition to regular firefighting
duties, HAZMAT crew members are constantly learning about hazardous
chemicals, pesticides and explosives.
Emergency
personnel take a victim of the plane crash into Community Medical
Center Oakhurst.
The GMC Airbus, a Sky West commuter plane, crashed late Saturday
on a field at Yosemite High School. The plane bears a faint resemblance
to the school bus that was hit by a terrorist van during the 2003
Eastern Madera County Disaster Drill.
Michelle Hemmer suddenly is suffering from a massive abrasion, under
the skillful moulage hands of Captain Curtis Jackson.
On October 30,
1938, the Orson Welles radio broadcast “War of the Worlds” simulated
news coverage of the supposed landing of a space craft in Grover’s
Mill, New Jersey. In spite of disclaimers that this was just fiction,
there was reportedly widespread panic throughout the country.
The Sierra Star encourages you to read the following account of
a fictitious terrorist event, all the while remembering that it
is the story of a drill to test the readiness of Eastern Madera
County’s emergency preparedness system.
OAKHURST Eleven
fatalities have been confirmed following the Saturday night crash
of a Sky West commuter plane at Yosemite High School. Early reports
indicate the twin engine turboprop was hijacked from Fresno/Yosemite
Airport.
Among the dead was the terrorist responsible for the hijacking.
There was a subsequent threat that an unknown toxic agent would
be released into the air over an urban area, unless demands were
met. Authorities have not released the nature of the demands.
The plane reportedly had 29 people on board, 25 passengers and the
flight crew. Ten died at the crash site and an infant died later
at Community Medical Center Oakhurst. The names of the victims including
the alleged terrorist are being withheld pending notification of
kin.
The incident began with a 7 p.m. news flash on local radio and television
stations, that Sky West flight 1232 had been hijacked just as it
was entering the landing flight pattern at Fresno/Yosemite Airport.
At approximately 8 p.m. there were local reports of a forced landing
or the crash of a light plane on a field at the school. First units
on site confirmed that the downed aircraft was in fact a Sky West
plane and there appeared to be numerous bodies in and out of the
GMC Air Bus. A small fire was also on the field, along with debris
apparently thrown from the crash.
While first responders reached the scene promptly, the risk of an
unknown contaminant and a possible jet fuel fire delayed the rescue
efforts for the crash victims. One young woman was seen running
from the crash site to the staging area for emergency vehicles.
Bull horns were used to calm the victims and to keep them apprised
of the progress of the rescue. The Command Post was brought in.
Incident Commander was Roger Simms from the California Department
of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF).
The closest HAZMAT team was located in Fresno and it took over an
hour for it to arrive on scene. Shortly thereafter, three team members
were seen clad in enveloping astronaut style uniforms, eerily walking
from the staging area to the crash site. They performed a thorough
evaluation of both the downed plane and the site.
Investigation inside the plane revealed a sealed container which
was removed by the team and was later declared not to be dangerous.
Immediately following clearance of the site, emergency response
personnel from throughout the mountains began the slow and often
sad process of attending to the victims of the crash. Triage was
performed on each person to determine the level of injury. A coroner
was requested from the sheriff’s office to work with the bodies,
including that of a woman who had been thrown into a tree.
Critical and moderate patients were sent to various local medical
facilities which had been alerted to the incoming wounded. The walking
wounded were treated by Red Cross RNs on site as well as at local
clinics.
Involved in the massive clean up were the CDF, the California Highway
Patrol, personnel from the Madera County Sheriff’s Department, both
the state and county Offices of Emergency Services, Sierra Ambulance,
the Sheriff’s Citizens on Patrol (CPPS), the Red Cross, RACES (the
Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services), Madera County Health Department,
the 9 Brigade of the United States Military Reserve, Yosemite High
School, and Community Medical Center Oakhurst.
“Which leg do you want broken?” Tony Misner asked his son, Austin.
Mr. Misner is the Emergency Medical Technician teacher at Yosemite
High School. But, more importantly to the realism of this drill,
he is the moulage expert for the project. Moulage is the art of
creating realistic injuries, to help emergency response teams by
having patients with wounds that seem to be real, in order to allow
an accurate injury assessment and triage opportunity.
Mr. Misner was assisted in “moulaging” the other 20 plus victims
by John Glenn and Curtis Jackson. Many of the injured received severe
burns. There were also collapsed lungs, a severed arm, and internal
injuries of every type and abrasions.
The Command Post, consisting of surplus equipment, was brought to
the scene by Lt. Mike Salvador of the Madera County Sheriff’s Department.
Lt. Salvador was sincerely grateful the Madera County Board of Supervisors
had turned the much needed unit over to the sheriff’s office to
serve as a command post for emergency situations like this one.
According to the prepared scenario, crude attempts were made to
preserve crime scene integrity as rescuers tried to avoid touching
or stepping on debris as much as possible. The FBI and Environmental
Health were notified.
Barry Thorn, Madera County Office of Emergency Services coordinator,
played the roles of Public Information Officer, simulated FBI and
FAA liaisons, and also the representative from Sky West Airlines.
According to a 1999 article in the Sierra Star, Thorn was on the
management team for the investigation of the Pan Am crash in Lockerbie,
Scotland in 1988. He has headed Madera County’s OES since 1997.
The staging site included triage and treatment areas, delineated
by colored tarps. Victims were categorized as black (dead), red
(critical), yellow (moderate) and green (walking wounded), and then
transported to the section of their color. “Red” were taken by ambulance
to various local health facilities. A bus was called for from Yosemite
High School, to take the “green” victims to the Red Cross station
and also to Urgent Care at Community Medical Center Oakhurst. Further,
emergency scene decontamination, a wash down with water, began for
both the victims and for the site.
Disaster Committee chairperson was Chris Dragoo, RN, supervisor
for the Community Medical Center in Oakhurst. It was her responsibility
to coordinate the overall plan of the drill. Assisting was Rhonda
Catherina, RN, the Emergency Preparedness Coordinator for Urgent
Care. As such, she prepares and trains the staff for disaster drills.
The event was funded through a grant that Eastern Madera County
received for disaster drills with a bioterrorism emphasis. Thorn
helped secure the grant.
Dave Wolin of the California State Military Reserve helped check
in the participants, the observers and the evaluators. Six members
of his military team showed up when they were called for the surprise
drill, arriving from Visalia, Fresno, Tulare and other areas. Two
were in Southern California when they answered their call, and were
not required to return for the drill. The team slept the night at
the VFW hall and returned to their homes the next day.
Ed Guzman, general manager of Sierra Ambulance Service, brought
five ambulances to the drill. In a twist of fate, just prior to
the exercise, most of the ambulances were responding to real community
medical needs. And then, as Mr. Guzman told it, “the call Gods were
gracious,” and the real needs of the community halted. Immediately
following completion of the drill, however, real calls started coming
in again, including a broken hip. Sierra Ambulance was able to respond
to that one within a minute, and when the ambulance brought the
patient to Urgent Care, the staff questioned if this were still
a “part of the exercise.”
Virginia Smith is the transportation supervisor and disaster transportation
coordinator for Yosemite High School. As part of the drill, she
transported accident victims to Urgent Care, and preparatory to
the drill, she carried the victims (and the press) to the crash
site.
Thomas Shook of Sierra Ambulance Service is the EMT P field supervisor
and was the medical supervisor on site. He was praised for his coordination
of the medical needs and the available resources. Steve Parks from
the County OES took the responsibility of gathering and summarizing
the comments from the evaluation forms. Sharon Martinez from the
Red Cross served on the committee and helped with event participant
sign in and also helped set up the Red Cross shelter.
Tracy Cheek was the mobile dispatcher in Incident Command. She received
accolades from all the participants for her to the point, realistic
communications. Professionals who were involved in the drill said
that she added a sense of reality, with the feeling of a true day
to day dispatch.
The Sheriff’s Department and the COPS helped secure the area the
disaster drill was held in, and controlled traffic around and through
the perimeter. The CDF HAZMAT team set up the area for decontamination
of the biohazard material, and also cleared the scene to allow for
triage and treatment. Although they were not asked to actually turn
out for the drill, many Oakhurst physicians are on the call list
should a real emergency occur.
David Catherina and Lupe Thompson were in charge of the barbecue
for the participants prior to the drill. Rick and Chris Dragoo had
the awesome task of transforming a shell of a school bus into an
airplane. The tired school bus was purchased last year for the exorbitant
sum of $1. Thanks to the ingenuity of Ms. Smith and the Yosemite
High School Transportation Department, the engine, transmission,
fuel tank, and all glass and liquids were removed to make the bus
appear real without being dangerous to the pretend victims and the
real emergency personnel. Thanks to Sierra Telephone and Harry Baker
who have made arrangements to store the bus/plane until it is needed
again.
Jerry Thompson represented RACES, the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency
Service. The respected volunteer radio club helps during times of
emergency. He worked with the communication at both the scene and
at Urgent Care. Troy Cheek represented the CDF and Douglas Sisk,
the Madera County Fire Department and Sierra Ambulance Service.
Bill Nation represented the CHP, and Shirley Finneman, the Madera
County Health Department. Janet Stanovich is the Community Service
Officer and represented the Madera Sheriff’s Department. Paul Calkins
represented the California OES.
The drill condenses perhaps a 12 day incident into about six hours,
and triages and then handles 30 odd patients in about one and one
half hours. Observers praised the calmness from the first responders
who staged, ready to go in, but could only listen to the horrific
victim screams because the site was not yet declared safe. That
strength carried forward when personnel were allowed on site, and
this transmitted to the patients.
The consensus during the wrap up Tuesday was that this drill was
the best that had been held to date. Some specific and positive
suggestions were noted to be applied to future disaster drills.
Oscars or Emmys at the very least also go to the victims, who screamed
the full 15 minutes it took the simulated HAZMAT team to arrive
and get set up. Especially noticeable was the amnesia victim who
kept wandering away and had to be fetched back by caring yet gentle
personnel.
A special big thanks, too, were given to the multimedia class representatives
from Yosemite High School and to the school itself for hosting the
Spring 2004 exercise.
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