On
October 9, 2008 the Greater Rochester International Airport conducted
it's tri-annual full-scale disaster drill. Shortly after 9am, the Airport
Fire Dept. was notified via the crash phone that a fuel truck had collided
with an aircraft on 'B' taxiway due to poor visibility. A Ground Emergency
was declared at that time and firefighters responded to the scene.
Upon their arrival
two minutes later, Airport firefighters reported a 5,000 gallon fuel truck
on fire next to an aircraft on the taxiway and immediately discharged
their roof turrets to knock the fire down. The on duty Captain then upgraded
the incident to an Alert 3. After the fire was knocked down, firefighters
began to triage and evacuate the passengers on the aircraft. With the
help of several mutual aid companies, a total of 42 people (39 passengers
and 3 crew members) were evacuated in just under 30 minutes.
For this year's
drill, a fuel truck from U.S. Airports was used along with a CH-47 Chinook
from the NYS National Guard unit at the airport, which simulated a larger
commercial aircraft. All companies were released and the drill concluded
in just over an hour.
|
