В штате Юта проведут масштабные учения по спасению при массовом ДТП на марафоне

Those traveling along state Route 18 near Central on Thursday evening may see what appears to be a catastrophic scene: dozens of injured people, ambulances rushing to and from the area, firefighters cutting apart vehicles and emergency lights flashing near the starting line of the St. George Marathon. Don't panic. Enterprise Fire Chief Brenden Moody told St. George News the scene will be staged. Fire departments and emergency agencies from communities along the SR-18 corridor will gather Thursday at 6 p.m. near the intersection of SR-18 and Pine Valley Highway for what he said will be the largest coordinated training exercise of its kind for the region. The scenario will simulate a vehicle crashing into people gathered for a marathon, with approximately 40 live actors portraying victims with injuries ranging in severity. "It's going to look like a live, real incident," Moody said. And that is precisely the point. Responders will arrive from across the SR-18 corridor, including agencies serving Winchester Hills, Diamond Valley, Dammeron Valley, Veyo, Gunlock, Central, Pine Valley and Enterprise. Intermountain Health Flight & Ambulance Services, Gold Cross Ambulance, the Washington County Sheriff's Office and Washington County Emergency Management will also participate. The exercise is expected to last about two hours. While emergency crews regularly train for medical incidents and mass casualty situations on a smaller scale, Moody said the goal of Thursday's exercise goes far beyond treating simulated patients. "The big part is learning how to have eight different agencies show up together, work cohesively together, be able to communicate and operate," he said. The training grew out of an effort to strengthen cooperation among emergency agencies along the SR-18 corridor. After a proposal to consolidate several fire departments in the area fell through about two years ago, Moody said county commissioners encouraged the agencies to find other ways to work more closely together. The result was the Highway 18 Chiefs Association. Fire chiefs from communities stretching from Winchester Hills to Enterprise now meet monthly to discuss mutual aid, training, communication, unified protocols and other challenges unique to the corridor. Those meetings have helped build toward Thursday's full-scale exercise over the past two years, Moody said. "We've been trying to train a lot with each other, and we kind of made a goal to have a big corridor-wide mass casualty training exercise," Moody said. Planning for the event began in May and intensified in recent weeks as agencies coordinated the logistics of bringing dozens of responders, actors and emergency resources together. He said the location was selected in part because of challenges posed by the nearby starting line for the St. George Marathon, where thousands of people gather. "We live in a rural area, and so obviously we have different challenges than even, say, St. George Fire or Santa Clara-Ivins," Moody said. "We transport longer distances. We have less resources and challenging terrain." The exercise will unfold much like a real emergency, Moody said, with responders arriving from different locations and taking on assignments as the situation develops. Duties could include triage, patient treatment and transportation, vehicle extrication and assisting with airlift operations. "They don't know the type of injuries they're going to be dealing with, or even what they're going to be doing," Moody said. "They're going to handle it as it comes, whatever assignment they're given." Two vehicles will be used during the exercise, allowing firefighters to practice extrication while other agencies coordinate the movement and treatment of simulated patients. The scenario was not selected because of any specific threat or concern surrounding the St. George Marathon, Moody said. Rather, organizers needed a realistic scenario capable of producing a large number of patients in a short period. The exercise also gives agencies an opportunity to identify weaknesses before they are forced to confront them during an actual emergency. "We're trying to be proactive," Moody said. "If something were to happen during that event, at least we have some good practice, and we've at least recognized where we need to improve." For motorists, however, the most important message may be the simplest: What they see Thursday evening will not be real. Electronic message boards will be placed on both sides of SR-18 to notify drivers about the training, and Moody said the exercise will remain off the highway with no anticipated lane restrictions. Still, people traveling through the area should expect to see a substantial emergency response. "There's going to be a lot of people there," he said. "There's going to be lights and sirens. They're going to see fire and EMS in action doing their thing and transporting patients." Because the scene is designed to look realistic, Moody asked drivers not to stop, pull over or call emergency dispatch to report what they see. "Just keep on driving," he said. "Sometimes even them slowing down to see what's going on can cause an accident." The event will be controlled, with no actual injuries involved and a safety officer assigned to the scene.  Moody said organizers hope to conduct large-scale corridor-wide exercises every couple of years, while continuing smaller training events and other major joint exercises annually. For Moody, the value of Thursday's drill lies in building relationships among agencies before they are needed in a real emergency. "You’re literally working with all these different agencies side by side," Moody said. "People you've maybe never seen before, you don't know them. You're going to work with them, so it just creates those relationships with those guys, that cohesiveness." The victims will be actors. The injuries will be simulated. But for the agencies preparing for the worst, Moody said Thursday's lessons will be real.