Mock emergency gets massive response
Grovetown resident Penny Carpenter lay helpless, halfway out of a school bus exit door with glass in her face and blood dripping to the ground at Riverside Park.
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Columbia County emergency personnel load an accident victim into the helicopter during the training exercise at Riverside Park.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
"Help!" screamed the county's Community Emergency Response Team volunteer as 27 other victims lay motionless or injured nearby. "My foot is stuck! I can't get out! Help!''
It was a scene that had all the makings of a mass disaster in Columbia County, but it was only a mock emergency, something county officials say helps them in preparing for the real thing.
The Thursday drill was based on the following scenario: an unruly student riding a bus sprays Mace into the driver's face, causing the driver to lose control and the bus to crash into a parked van that has a methamphetamine lab. The drill occurred at Riverside Elementary School and Riverside Park on Hardy McManus Road.
"This is a widespread, multifaceted response. So far I've seen nothing but perfection," said Pam Tucker, Columbia County's emergency services director. She said she got the idea for Thursday's mock scenario from an actual event that occurred in this country. "I wanted to use a real situation that could possibly happen here."
By having the training exercise, Tucker said, agencies are able to utilize their emergency equipment such as the county's mobile operations center, and evaluate their performance in responding to disastrous situations.
Martinez firefighters prepare an accident victim for transport during a training exercise involving a school bus and a mobile meth lab.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Also as part of the two-hour drill, some of those posing as victims were decontaminated and taken to St. Joseph Hospital, where they were "treated" for their injuries.
Two men portraying drug dealers, who were in the meth-lab van when the mock wreck occurred, unsuccessfully tried to flee from police but were later "arrested" by Columbia County sheriff's deputies.
Meghan Conklin, of Columbia, who witnessed the exercise, said she was pleased with the overall response.
"They did a great job,'' she said. "This exercise showed me that there are so many aspects to responding to a emergency situation. It made you feel like this was a real scenario."
Sheriff's Deputy Chris Burnett handcuffs Greg Rowell, who played the role of a mobile meth-lab driver who fled from police during the training exercise.
Photo by Valerie Rowell
Columbia County sheriff's Deputy Jamie Flippo helps direct a woman playing an injured passenger at a school bus accident during a training exercise at Riverside Park in Evans.
Photo by Valerie Rowell