Tweed Airport Conducts Disaster Drill---see slideshow

 
Here are details from WTNH News 8----
 
It looked like a disaster. That was the intention.
 
At Tweed-New Haven Airport — the skies were filled with a fiery explosion while on the ground, emergency screws scrambled to reach passengers who had been in a mock plane crash. This frantic scene played out in case the real thing ever happens. An emergency response drill was held to make sure first responders could handle a real-life, pressure-filled scenario.
“It allows for our fire response team to train on a live situation,” said Tim Larson, Executive Director of Tweed New Haven Airport.
 
It requires many different agencies to learn to work together — fast — when every second counts.
“There’s probably 16 different components to this drill,” Larson said. “The coordination is tremendous.”
Emergency crews rush the “victims” to ambulances on the tarmac. Those ambulances race off to Yale-New Haven Hospital so trauma teams there can be put to the test, too.
 
They conduct this live drill every 3 years. They also conduct similar training in different drills annually. The live drill looked so real, that “victims” of the plane crash were covered in blood and carried away. The “victims” were portrayed by acting students with the East Haven High Drama Club.
It is truly a community effort to make sure first responders get the training they need to come through and save lives.
“It’s a tremendous exercise,” Larson said. Safety is clearly our number once concern here at Tweed New Haven Airport.”