LAWTON, Okla_Sirens,
wailing, injured workers and emergency personnel everywhere that was the scene Thursday
morning at Lawton's
Goodyear plant. But this wasn't a real disaster. It was a mock emergency drill
to train Goodyear employees and Lawton
firefighters how to react quickly should an emergency of this magnitude
actually happen.
The scenario, a
mock earthquake, all Goodyear employees accounted for, but a construction team
was in the power house. Fifteen members of the crew had not checked in, so
members of the Goodyear fire brigade and first responders were called to
action, just like they would in a real emergency.
"Individually
all of our associates are going to perform as needed but we wanted to see how
they would do as a large group," First Responder Training Officer Bill
Nadeau said.
Problem number
one, a chemical spill, and removing the injured from further danger. The search
for other survivors was on, and treating them wherever they were found. High
above the ground in the power house, injured workers needed to be extracted, and
a talented team of trained Lawton
firefighters took over.
"Anytime
we can take our Lawton Firefighters and put them into something that's not just
the routine training grounds and we get to come out to Goodyear it's not
something they see all the time and it really causes them to kind of think
outside the box and look at different avenues for doing the same old thing that
we typically do in training and that's what the power house here at Goodyear
allowed us to go ahead and to put our guys to that type of test," LFD
Training Officer Jared Williams said.
Emergencies
like this are rare, but when it's real and lives are on the line, precious
seconds can mean the difference between life and death. It's not possible to be
over-prepared.
"If we
were to have that type of incident it does help us to get the confidence to
know that Lawton Fire Department along with the Goodyear Fire Brigade can go
out and take care of these individuals if it is needed."
What happened
today at Goodyear will be reviewed and lessons learned will be applied to
future training.
"Initially
from what I saw today I was thrilled with the response with the Lawton Fire
Department, Comanche County Memorial Air Evac and the way we performed out
here. I though it went extremely well," Williams said.
Operations at the Goodyear plant were not affected by today's emergency
drill. About 50 Goodyear Fire Brigade and first responders along with managers
from several departments participated in the drill.
