JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash.-- --
Joint Base Lewis McChord first responders got a taste of
working together during a Cascade Helix exercise simulating a suspicious
package and aircraft mishap, July 27 on McChord Field.
The Cascade Helix exercise, an anti-terrorism and mass casualty
exercise, was done in preparation for the JBLM Airshow and Warrior Expo that is
being held Aug. 27-28 at JBLM
“We are preparing for our JAWE by conducting a couple
scenarios to simulate if something were to go wrong,” said Dana Lockhart, JBLM exercise
director. “This is required training for leadership and base first responders
to evaluate JBLM's ability to manage personnel and resources and to respond to an
incident on base.”
Around 9:15 a.m., the exercise kicked off and the populace
was notified of a simulated suspicious package that was left out on the McChord
flightline.
Once the notification was initiated, the 787th Explosive
Ordnance Disposal Company and members of the JBLM Director of Emergency
Services responded to conduct an improvised explosive device response.
“Everything went well out here,” said Staff Sgt. Isaac
Martinez, 787th EOD team lead. “Once notified, we responded, assessed the
threat, figured out what the device was and disabled it.”
While EOD was wrapping up their response to the simulated
suspicious package, another notification alerted the base of a simulated
McChord C-17 Globemaster III plane crash which occurred on the flightline.
This C-17 aircraft mishap kicked off the beginning of the
mass casualty scenario of the exercise.
The mass-casualty exercise was designed to simulate an
aircraft crash during an air show. It was a chance for first-responders to test
their skills before the JAWE scheduled for August.
As exercise evaluators observed, first responders, made up
of firemen, medics and emergency medical technicians, made their way through
the scene of victims, triaging and treating them on the scene and preparing
them for simulated transported to the military hospital.
Lockhart said that they wanted to make this exercise as
realistic as possible.
“Even though a lot of the exercise was simulated, we wanted
to make it as real as possible,” said Lockhart. “When the first responders
responded, the C-17 was literally smoking and the victims were moulaged. So the
responders had to put the simulated fire out using their fire truck and medical
had simulated injures to treat.”
Overall, Lockhart was pleased with JBLM response to the
scenarios.
“The desired end state was that JBLM is better postured to
respond to and recover from an aircraft incident,” said Lockhart. “From what I
have seen today, it puts us in a good readiness posture for the air show.”
For more information on the JAWE, visit http://jblmawe.com/.