Approximately 200 airport employees, local emergency responders, and volunteers will conduct a full-scale emergency training exercise on Saturday, September 8, 2018, beginning at 9:30 a.m. at the Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport. This drill will include fire simulation, injury simulation, and a multi-agency response.
“Commercial airports conduct live exercises to prepare for a major aircraft emergency,” explains Timothy T. Bradshaw, A.A.E., executive director of the Roanoke Regional Airport Commission. “We stage a mock aircraft disaster, and then respond as if it were a real incident. The airport and many other area agencies participate so we can test our emergency response procedures, which we hope to never have to use.”
The exercise, mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration every three years, will simulate an aircraft emergency on the airport’s cargo ramp. An aircraft fire simulator will be in use to practice aircraft fire response. Volunteers simulating victims will be triaged and transported to Lewis Gale Hospital and Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital.
This is a multi-jurisdiction, multi-agency drill with participation from the Roanoke Regional Airport Commission, City of Roanoke Fire-EMS, Police, Emergency Management, Dispatch, City of Salem Fire-EMS, Roanoke County Fire-EMS, Botetourt County Fire-EMS, Dispatch, Mountain Valley Transportation, Craig County, Town of Vinton, Carilion Clinic Medical Center, Carilion Clinic LifeGuard 10, Carilion Clinic Patient Transport, AMR Medical Transportation, 211 Virginia, Lewis Gale Medical Center, Lewis Gale Cave Spring Emergency Department, Office of the Medical Examiner, American Red Cross, Virginia Department of Emergency Management, Virginia Department of Health, Federal Aviation Administration, Signature Flight Support, Near Southwest Preparedness Alliance, and Virginia Veterans Care Center.
This exercise will not affect flights arriving or departing from the Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport.
