Simulated plane crash at RI's T.F. Green Airport tests emergency responders
WARWICK — Hundreds of Rhode Island emergency personnel tested their ability to deal with a crashed airliner during a simulation at Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport on Saturday.
The scenario for the full-scale exercise involved an Airbus 310 flown by a crew of eight and carrying 121 passengers.
The imaginary plane in the simulation takes off from London Heathrow Airport bound for New York's Kennedy Airport. But it diverts to T.F. Green with mechanical troubles. An attempted emergency landing is a failure.
That was the part of the simulation that involved real-life flames on Saturday morning.
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Drill involved real flames, student volunteers playing passengers
At least 95 firefighters from the airport, Warwick, Cranston, Providence and West Warwick battled an actual fire that was lit in a long-term parking lot as part of what planners described as a "full-scale exercise."
Flames shot out from a mock airplane fuselage that had been trucked in on a flatbed for the simulation.
Firefighters were at the scene in less than three minutes, said Thomas Guthlein, executive administrator for the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency, which helped the airport organize and plan the simulation.
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In addition to the live flames, local emergency crews also dealt with more than 60 people, including some students from local universities, who played the role of passengers at the scene of a mock jetliner disaster.
In the simulation, 29 people are killed in the crash and more than 30 are transported for treatment, said a spokesman for the airport, John Goodman.
As part of the exercise, a medical transport officer contacted area hospitals to gauge capacity and make decisions about where to send the patients.
A patient-tracking system was put to use, but no one from the simulation actually went to the hospital.
Another element of the exercise involved a special airline team, a "go-team," that activates and coordinates with the families of passengers.
Drill also involved staff from JetBlue, state and federal agencies
A go-team from JetBlue did its work, which involved reunification-related simulations in London and New York City.
Personnel from various state and federal agencies participated in the daylong exercise, including staff from the Rhode Island Department of Health, the Red Cross, the state's behavioral health division, RIEMA and the National Transportation Safety Board, the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.
The airport is required to conduct such an exercise every three years.
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Goodman said the airport takes safety seriously.
"These are the things that keep us up at night," he said.
A total of about 200 people were on the ground at the airport Saturday morning and about 300 people were involved in the simulation, Guthlein said.
About 35 RIEMA staff members helped plan the operation, and 10 to 15 were on-site.
Next they will write up a report, hoping to identify "gaps" and areas where emergency response might be improved, said Guthlein.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI emergency crews practice response to simulated plane crash
