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MARE readies base, local responders for air show

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jennifer Arredondo
  • 437th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --  Team Charleston prepared for the upcoming 2008 Wings Over Charleston Air Expo by conducting a major accident response exercise here Tuesday.

"We conducted this exercise to prepare the wing for the upcoming air show," said David Hunt, 437th Airlift Wing readiness and inspection chief. "If a wing is hosting an air show, then the base has to exercise before the start of the event."

More than 150 Team Charleston members were put to the test to see if they could handle any and all scenarios that may play out.

The day started out with a table-top exercise at the wing headquarters buildings. First responders such as base command and control, fire department, emergency management, bio-environmental, civil engineer readiness and security forces went through checklists on how they would respond to a minor incident (a car accident) and a major accident (a plane crash). Also, the medical group provided many of their staff to treat patients at what will be the air expo medical area.

"In addition to the 60 first responders there was much activity behind the scenes in the form of command and control from the installation control center which includes the wing and group commanders and support staff," Mr. Hunt said. "Also, the emergency operations center, which includes representatives from many base organizations, formed to provide assistance to the incident commander who was controlling the activities at the accident scene."

Along with first responders from the base, their civilian counterparts, Charleston County Emergency Management Services, Emergency Preparedness Division and local police and fire departments took part in the exercise.

"[The responders working together] allow us to practice a series of different events to ensure we are ready to respond to any type of incident," Mr. Hunt said. "It gives us a good starting point to not only respond to an aircraft incident, but to a lost child or a person with a medical emergency."

The MARE for the air show did not stop when the table-top portion ended ... it was just the beginning.

During the afternoon portion of the exercise, all participants went out to the flightline and practiced how they would respond to an aircraft that had crashed into a parking area.

To help make the scene come alive for the responder smoke grenades, simulated explosives, a small aircraft and some vehicles were used to help set the stage for the responders. Also, 45 Team Charleston members volunteered as wounded air show visitors.

While the exercise evaluation team members did not use hundreds of vehicles or a large aircraft to create a disaster scene, it did help to provide some realism for responders.

"It wasn't 100 percent realistic, but it did provide basic knowledge to participants as to how to respond in case there is an accident," said Tech. Sgt. Adele Rosington, 437th Medical Operations Squadron evaluation team member.

So how did Team Charleston do?

"The wing did well during the MARE," Mr. Hunt said. "While we found no major problems, we did discovered a few instances in which we can improve our communications between agencies and some potential minor planning shortfalls. We have put fixes into place to correct these areas."

The 2008 Wings Over Charleston Air Expo is scheduled for April 26 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call 963-EXPO or go to www.chalrestonairexpo.com.