April 24 proved to be a perfect spring morning for a Mass Casualty Incident Drill simulating a train derailment in West Windsor. West Windsor Volunteer Fire Co. #1, Station 43, Emergency Medical Services 45, and West Windsor CERT (community emergency response team) joined host company Princeton Junction Volunteer Fire Co. #1, Station 44, in a massive training session involving more than 40 first responders.
West Windsor has one of the busiest train stations and a very large stretch of tracks along the Northeast Corridor with countless NJ Transit and Amtrak trains passing through on a daily basis.
The purpose of the exercise was to prepare for a major incident that would require these four organizations to work together toward a common goal: to protect the lives of the traveling public. It also showed the camaraderie, leadership, and team work enjoyed by our firefighters, EMS personnel, and CERT members.
The morning began with a classroom overview of mass casualty incidents, the proper manner of assessing a victim in just seconds, the triage of potential patients, basic minor first aid, and a review of the available equipment they have at the ready for such an emergency.
The afternoon brought firefighters, EMS, and CERT members to the incident for hands-on training. A full size school bus was used to simulate a crowded rail car with numerous causalities. Firefighters had to use some imagination to turn the school bus into a crowded passenger train where they would be performing the rescue assignment.
Once the situation had been assessed, rescuers were met by “victims,” some suffering from severe injuries, others with minor injuries such as broken bones and lacerations, and even a simulated casualty or two.
Having very limited space within the fabricated train the firefighters used triage tags to identify the severity of injury, and removed the less severely injured away from the active emergency to the safety of the triage area, where assessment and treatment takes place.
Simultaneously, firefighters cared for the more severely injured or entrapped victims. Those victims were placed on backboards, skeds, reeves, and any other makeshift equipment they could be inventive with. Victims were removed via the rear door and windows-down ladders by teams of rescuers.
Though not necessary for this drill, extrication equipment could have been used to cut out trapped patients or even to remove objects for more working room within the “train car” should it have been needed.
This exercise showed that when you have a tragic emergency situation such as a mass casualty incident or accident, there is no time to waste on jurisdictional issues. Firefighters, EMS personnel, and CERT members come together, accept the assignment, and put their training to use while completing the task as a team. The drill showed that four separate departments come together with one goal in mind, to save lives. These men and women feel an immense sense of accomplishment on a job well done.
Though one hopes never to have this become a real life situation, we can rest assured that with the planning, and training that goes into this type of incident, our community can sleep well knowing that West Windsor is prepared.
Thank you to all who participated in the training and fulfillment of this assignment, as well as to our command staff, who ran a potentially chaotic incident with poise and composure. These men and women are proud to be of service to the community no matter how big or small the incident may be.
Firefighter Lauren Bird
