Local emergency departments run mock plane crash drills

WILLIAMSTOWN, W.Va. (WTAP) - Local emergency departments gathered at the Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Airport to run plane crash emergency response drills.

The situation was a simulated plane crash complete with an actual plane on fire. Fire departments, law enforcement, and EMS personnel all participated.

While one side of the airport was dedicated to putting out the fire, mock victims were driven from the scene to the other side of the airport to be taken care of.

Jeff Propps with St. Joseph’s Ambulance Services said, “What we’re doing is we’re getting the patients sorted out of triage and preparing them for transport. We have to look at different aspects. We obviously can’t send a whole lot of critical patients to one facility.”

The simulated situation was of a big aircraft and a small aircraft crashing into each other, with 18 people on board all together.

The drill’s meant to fine tune emergency response to make sure emergency crews are coordinated and prepared overall for actual disaster.

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