Brac emergency services practice accident response
(CNS): CIAA’s CEO, Jeremy Jackson said he was pleased with the performance of the emergency services this week at mock emergency exercise at Gerrard-Smith International Airport. The Emergency Response Exercise was spearheaded by the Cayman Islands Airports Authority (CIAA) and entailed the simulation of an aircraft accident at Gerrard-Smith on the Brac on Monday morning. The Exercise allowed first responders from the CIAA, the Cayman Islands Fire Service, Royal Cayman Islands Police Service and the Health Services Authority/Faith Hospitalto test their readiness in the event of a real aircraft emergency at the airport.
Thanking all those involved including the students of the Cayman Brac High School for their participation as volunteer passengers, (above) Jackson said the exercise was extremely beneficial to all emergency response agencies and the airport team. “It is crucial that we are in a state of readiness at all times in the event of a real aircraft accident on Cayman Brac,” he said. “Overall, I was pleased with the performance of all emergency response partners whose representatives will attend a debriefing later this week to discuss their respective outcomes and areas that need to be addressed in order to enhance their response to such incidents.”
In the Exercise the teams responded to the landing of a Saab 340 aircraft, with 19 persons on board, which reported that it was experiencing hydraulic failures and requested that all emergency services be put on standby. On landing the aircraft sustained landing gear damage resulting in it veering off the runway onto a grassed area on the south side before bursting into flames.(Emergency services co-ordinate repsonse)
Emergency services from G-SIA responded to the accident scene and performed fire fighting and rescue operations. Once fire fighters had extinguished the blaze, the next phase entailed the rescue and recovery of passengers who were then triaged.
Passengers were assessed and taken to the Advanced Medical Post (AMP) where further assessment and stabilisation was carried out by medical personnel from Faith Hospital. Passengers with serious trauma were systematically transported by ambulance to the Hospital for further treatment.(Fire staff take a break after emergency exercise.)
The next phase of the Exercise was the establishment of an Incident Command Post (ICP) by the Aerodrome Fire Service who was the first authority on the scene. The Fire Service then handed over responsibility for the ICP to the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS) who immediately set about providing instructions for the preservation of the accident scene and crowd control, in conjunction with the CIAA Security Unit. At the ICP representatives from all emergency responders immediately gathered and commenced liaison with the Emergency Coordination Centre (ECC), which was established in the conference room at Gerrard-Smith International Airport. 2
Category: Local News
