Hale County Prepares For A Dramatic Emergency Training Exercise
It is a spectacle worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster when the Hale County Emergency Management Agency conducts its annual full-scale emergency training exercise. In a role worthy of John Ford or Cecil B. DeMille, County EMA Director brings together a cast of hundreds with a different response scenario each spring.
Thursday night more than 700 people from the state and nation will be involved in a realistic passenger plane crash on property that once house the State Cattle Ranch in southern Hale County.
"We're going to set up a scenario about a plane carrying 105 passengers and crew crashing in a rural area of the county," Weeden said in describing the scenario. "There will be fires and multiple injuries and fatalities."
The scenario is not unrealistic with large passenger aircraft regularly flying above the county headed toward Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Montgomery and Meridian MS.
79 response agencies (including Tuscaloosa Fire and Rescue Service) from 26 counties will be actively involved in the exercise. Mutual aid support from across West Alabama would be needed for response to a similar real event should it happen because of limited resources.
Twenty-two hay bales will be set afire to resemble scattered wreckage at the simulated crash site just off County Road 73 six miles south of Greensboro. There will also be a water rescue written into the exercise script.
Because Hale County has been a repeated target of tornadoes over the years, the yearly agency exercise frequently features a tornado touchdown, as last year's did. But a mass casualty event like a plane crash still serves to train responders in needed skills. "We haven’t done a plane crash in about 10 years, so it will be a significant event, so it’s a good disaster drill to invite a lot of different counties,” said Weeden.
The event will kick off with a meal and pre-exercise safety briefing at 5:00pm with the training itself wrapping up at 9:00pm with a hotwash (an informal debriefing to capture key insights on what took place following a drill.)
"We have a tremendous group of experienced responders that participate each year," Weeden added. "But like a sports team, you have to practice regularly to maintain your edge."
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