PERU — The children got here slowly out of the woods in the direction of a clearing on the finish of an previous logging street on Garnet Peak.
Some walked on their very own, others wanted help. Just a few had been carted out on stretchers. One even moaned.
Given the circumstances these kids had been in, it seemed like they’d been concerned in a tragic accident that had taken place deep in an remoted space of Peru State Forest. However what appeared actual was truly the simulation of a tragedy, set as much as present emergency personnel from quite a few Berkshire County companies the chance to organize for the actual factor.
The Peru police and hearth departments hosted a simulated mass casualty incident at Garnet Peak Saturday morning in the identical space the place an actual life tragedy had occurred nearly 80 years in the past. On Aug. 15, 1942, a navy transport aircraft had crashed on Garnet Peak, killing 16 of the 19 members of the U.S. Air Power that had been aboard.
Saturday’s simulated occasion was additionally presupposed to be a aircraft crash, and it came about lower than a mile from the place the actual navy transport aircraft had gone down. It was the primary simulated mass casualty incident held in Peru since Bruce Cullett grew to become police chief two years in the past.
“The aim was to primarily apply a mass casualty incident and to reply to a mass casualty incident, which is one thing that is not achieved that usually,” Cullett stated after the drill had been accomplished. “It is a lot totally different to reply to an incident in a spot that distant than within the middle of city.
Emergency medical personnel watch as a sufferer is about to be strapped on to an ATV for transport throughout a mock mass casualty incident drill that came about Saturday morning at Garnet Peak in Peru.
“It isn’t one thing that we will encounter on a regular basis, hopefully,” he stated. “However it’s one thing that we must be prepared for.”
Personnel from 33 native and regional emergency response companies, together with police, hearth, ambulance and rescue squads, took half within the roughly three hour train, which started with fog shrouding one of many city’s highest peaks, however led to shiny, sizzling sunshine. An precise plane wasn’t positioned within the woods, though a drone flown barely above the tree line was utilized within the seek for survivors. The 18 “victims,” who ranged in age from 13 to 17, had been members of the Wahconah Regional Excessive Faculty drama membership and a Boy Scout troop from Southwick. Just a few mannequins had been additionally used to simulate individuals who had acquired extraordinarily severe accidents.
A number of the pupil victims had been caked in a purple substance that was used to simulate blood. All of them wore placards that described the extent of their accidents.
“The children got an concept of what they’re doing,” stated Mike Pandora of the Western Massachusetts Regional EMS workplace, who served as one of many drill’s evaluators. “As a result of they’re drama college students, they’ll act fairly effectively.”
When the kids got here out of the forest into the clearing they had been met by first responders, who divided them into teams primarily based on the extent of their accidents. Those carried out on stretchers had been strapped onto ATVs, then transported down the lengthy, bumpy logging street to a staging space arrange on the base of Garnet Peak.
The whole lot moved easily on the prime of the height, with first responders transferring shortly and effectively into pre-assigned roles.
Working towards these situations can also be essential so emergency responder can know that “every part works.”
“It is essential as a result of if that is the actual factor we wish to have the ability to go,” Pandora stated.
First responders did have bother speaking with one another early on. Cullett attributed the early snafus to the distances between individuals attempting to talk to one another on transportable radios and the extraordinarily rugged terrain.
“We tried a couple of various things, however we lastly straightened it out,” he stated.
Two helicopters, one from the State Police, the opposite from Life Star, that had been presupposed to arrive on the peak when the train was over, had been grounded because of the fog that enveloped the Pioneer Valley the place they had been flying from.
Emergency personnel now plan to overview the result of Saturday’s drill and make changes the place obligatory.
“I believe it went very effectively,” Cullett stated. “I believe this was a studying expertise for everyone.”
