Firefighters approach a plane crashed into the side of the Northwest Technology Center in Alva as part of the Woods County emergency disaster exercise.
Photo by Julie Whiteman
All hands were on deck Friday morning as Woods County emergency crews worked through a mock emergency at the Northwest Technology Center in Alva. The Emergency Disaster exercise included a wrecked plane and plenty of casualties.
Parents of the students at the tech center added to the mix as they frantically went looking for their children.
The purpose of the drill was to test not only the abilities of emergency crews, but also their ability to work together.
Fire departments, EMS, Air Evac, sheriff's office, police departments and ER staff at Share Medical Center all took part in the exercise.
Johnny Vaughn, regional response System Coordinator with the Oklahoma Office of Homeland Security, observed the emergency teams for evaluation.
“The purpose of a drill like this is to test the ability of all agencies and to determine the strength of their ability to work together. A multi-jurisdiction exercise can be instrumental in preparing them to work as one team. All those entities have to work together and make their communications with each other to plan for the day that they may actually need to manage a disaster,” Vaughn said.
“They all did very well. I was very impressed as was everyone who was there for the evaluation process. The scenario they chose was extreme and certainly tested the abilities of all departments.”
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