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Paramedics from AMR and a local firefighter work to stabilize a “patient” during the MVA drill hosted by Oracle Fire Department.
To the casual observer, it might have seemed like a demolition derby or wrecking crew had descended upon the desert area west of the San Manuel Junction. Many cars had been cut open like tin cans, the remains of the vehicles piled inside what remained of the chassis.
It wasn’t a demolition, though.
The morning was dedicated to teaching first responders the different ways to extricate a victim from a vehicle crash.
It was a training exercise meant to teach first responders how to do difficult extrications.
“As emergency responders,” said Oracle Fire Chief Larry Southard, “training is one of the most important things we can do. In an effort to always be ready for the next emergency, we train over and over again.”
It was also an exercise meant to teach first responders how to work with each other regardless of their home agency.
“Training is most often done within our own agencies and it is usually performed in small groups,” Chief Southard told the San Manuel Miner. “However, it’s also important to occasionally train with neighboring agencies so we can become more proficient while working together on a large incident.”
Oracle CERTs organized the training day for the department.
More than 80 First Responders were involved in the extrication training. Agencies involved included Oracle, Mammoth, San Manuel and Golder Ranch fire departments, Pinal Fire and Medical, Mammoth Police Department, AMR (American Medical Response, formerly Southwest Ambulance), Pinal County Sheriff’s Office, PCSO Sheriff’s Posse and PCSO Search & Rescue. Lifenet and Native Air were also involved, but in the afternoon exercise only. Oracle CERTs organized and managed the entire training. Luis Lopez from the Carniceria Rancheros Market in Mammoth donated 80 pounds of meat for the event and then spent the morning grilling it over a wood fire on his special grill. (This reporter has to mention how wonderfully flavorful the chicken was. Luis, you’re the best.)
Luis Lopez of Mammoth’s Rancheros Carniceria provided the meat and then grilled it up.
The afternoon training included a scenario with a burning vehicle, a rollover accident with “victims” and a high-angle rescue from a vehicle that had fallen into a ravine. Oracle CERTs and the children of Oracle Fire Assistant Chief Robert Jennings served as the “victims.”
Oracle CERTs and firefighters not involved in the afternoon scenario heard the dispatcher announce that there was a multi-vehicle accident on Mine Road near San Manuel. The dispatcher reported that there were multiple victims including children.
Lifenet Helicopter responded during the training exercise.
San Manuel Fire Department was first on the scene and they began assessing the patients. AMR paramedics arrived next followed quickly by Oracle Fire Department. Two helicopters were dispatched from the home heliport in Marana.
A “patient” is transported to a waiting ambulance during a training exercise.
Jennings’ wife (and the mother of the “victims”) was sitting with the observers. She said that even though she knew it wasn’t real, it was still hard to watch her children being treated as accident victims.
One of the vehicles involved in the accident caught fire (due to safety issues, this was simulated by setting a fire just in front of the engine compartment of the vehicle). San Manuel Fire Department doused the flames.
A call was dispatched to First Responders that one of the children was missing, ejected from the rollover accident and officers and firefighters immediately began searching for the child. He was located several hundred feet from the accident and was triaged by paramedics. He was eventually placed on a backboard and gurney and loaded into the back of the ambulance.
Pinal County Search and Rescue and local firefighters make a high angle rescue during a training exercise.
First Responders received another radio call, this time a relay from Pinal County Search and Rescue about two more victims trapped in a vehicle at the bottom of a ravine. Rescuers had to descend to the bottom of the ravine on ropes, extricate the victims from the rollover accident and transport them by basket up the steep incline to the waiting paramedics.
“Very few emergency responder agencies can afford to staff and equip for large incidents,” Chief Southard explained, “and when those large incidents occur, we often call upon our neighbors for assistance. Although we assist each other under various written Mutual Aid Agreements, it’s really more like neighbor helping neighbor.”
This drill was the second one held for multiple agencies, Jennings said, noting that each one gets bigger and bigger. He was pleased to see so many of the firefighters from the different agencies interacting with each other.
“Collaborating with other agencies is a critical component of providing emergency services, and joint training exercises such as the one we’re doing here today helps to build strong working relationships,” Chief Southard said. “This training exercise will help each of our agencies bond together so we can work effectively and efficiently as a single team.”
There are news or informational items frequently written by staff or submitted to the Copper Basin News, San Manuel Miner, Superior Sun, Pinal Nugget or Oracle Towne Crier for inclusion in our print or digital products. These items are not credited with an author.
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