By Shane O'Neill

The sky was falling: P.A. Airport hosts emergency procedure

Sep 23, 2016 | 6:34 AM

Crews from the Prince Albert fire department, police service, and Parkland Ambulance descended on Prince Albert Municipal Airport on Thursday afternoon. Thankfully, it was all just a test.

P.A.’s deputy fire chief of operations and logistics, Corey Rodgers, said the exercise was more than just practice for his department.

“What it really does is test our ability to communicate with other agencies,” he said. “It’ll get us working together more.”

‘Operation Sky Fall’ was a simulated aircraft crash landing. It was designed to test the strategic deployment of resources, communication and activation of the Emergency Operations Centre for first responders in Prince Albert and surrounding areas, as part of the airport’s routinely scheduled certification with Transport Canada.

The goals of the operation were to test appropriate response to a crash, effective communications between responding agencies, assess and treat transport casualties and manage casualties at Victoria Hospital.

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In order for the simulation to seem as real as possible. Students of the drama and emergency services response training classes at St. Mary High School were enlisted to act as victims with a variety of different injuries. Staff from Beau Lac funeral home were brought in to apply make-up and dress fake wounds to test paramedics.

Stephaan Salahub, from Beau Lac funeral home, was one of the make-up artists.

“We did different kinds of bruises,” Salahub explained. “We did open cuts, compound fractures, impalements for a couple of them.”

Austin Walker and Brooklyn Bedard, both students at St. Mary, were victims.

“I was contaminated with hydrocarbon liquids, fuel and oil and I also had minor cuts,” Bedard said, “I had an awesome time.”

“It was lots going and it was fun to watch,” said Walker.

Lyle Karasiuk, director of public affairs and support services with Parkland Ambulance, also oversaw the procedure as an observer. He said the operation was as much about learning as much as it was about testing capabilities.

“We’re here to learn from what we did today,” he said, “work with our partners to make sure that in the event we do have a real plane go down, we are all prepared, on the same page, working together to make sure that we can care for people as quickly and as safely as we possibly can.”

As for the performance of the victims, Karasiuk was clear.

“The students did great,” he said. “They were wonderful actors, they were so cooperative, so helpful. We just really applaud their efforts today.”

shane.oneill@paNOW.com

On Twitter: @stroneill