Archive for November 11th, 2014
Emergency services put through paces in mock crash
(CNS): Fire crews, police, emergency medical personnel and airport staff were put through their paces last week to ensure that they are ready and able to cope in the event of a real emergency at Owen Roberts International airport. In an important training exercise the staff handled a mock plane crash at the end of the cricket pitch. Officials from the Cayman Islands Airport Authority which coordinated the exercise said it was to enable first responders and the airport to fine tune its preparedness and ability to deal with a real life emergency. In this scenario the imaginary aircraft from Testing Airlines crashed with 100 people aboard.
The full-scale emergency exercise was activated at 10.25am last Thursday and to facilitate the free movement of emergency personnel and equipment, as would be the case in a real event, traffic was diverted by Traffic Police from all access points to the Smith Road Cricket Grounds during those two hours.
CIAA’s Senior Manager of Safety Management Systems, Andrew McLaughlin said the exercise was a success, “The biennial exercisegives us the opportunity every two years to test our emergency response systems and brings into focus both the positives and negatives of our preparedness. During debriefs, we will get feedback from the responders which will help fine-tune our readiness and response systems,” he added.
West Bay heritage day moves to Turtle Farm
(CNS): In what is proving to be a very low key Pirates Week festival this year, after budget cuts and falling sponsorship appear to be cutting into the celebration, the Turtle Farm has taken over the West Bay heritage day. Normally held at the district’s Heritage Field, this year, the food vendors and local crafters will take over the farm Tuesday. The CTF is not releasing turtles as part of the festival this year after it acknowledged last year that releasing the farmed turtles may be a danger to the wild population. However, from 11am today the farm will be hosting pirates as well as local artisans and there will be a $5 charge which gets visitors a $5 food voucher.
There will be music by local DJs as well as live entertainment by local performer “Lammy” and the West Bay district float will be on display, as well as a replica of a traditional catboat. Music and festivities will continue well into the evening, with a closing time of 2am. Guests will also be treated to a spectacular fireworks show.