Aircraft Mass Casualty Rescue Drill Sharpens Skills of Local First Responders

By Carmelo Turdo

By Mark Nankivil
 

An aircraft-related, mass casualty rescue drill was conducted Saturday at St. Louis Downtown Airport.  Along with the airport's fire department personnel, crews from neighboring Cahokia, Sauget, Prairie DuPont, Collinsville and Dupo fire protection districts mustered at the edge of runway 23 for several fire rescue training sessions.  The centerpiece of the training experience was the Mobile Aircraft Firefighting Trainer (MAFT), funded by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Missouri Department of Transportation (MODOT) and coordinated by the University of Missouri Fire and Rescue Training Institute.  Designed to meet FAA regulations for firefighting and rescue training, the MAFT has been used in several other training exercises at St. Louis metropolitan area airports to fulfill annual requirements.  The training scenarios included passenger compartment, engine and fuel spill fires with mass casualty evacuation. 

The Aero Experience was on site to record the event on the ground and from the air:

The Mobile Aircraft Firefighting Trainer (MAFT)

 

 

 

 

 

 

  


  







Participating Fire Departments Gathered Around the MAFT

Emergency Response Training Morning and Afternoon Sessions

Special thanks to St. Louis Downtown Airport Management and Fire Department, University of Missouri Fire and Rescue Training Institute and Gateway Air Tours for assistance in reporting on the day's training exercise.  For video coverage of the day's events, visit KSDK http://www.ksdk.com/videos/news/local/2013/11/16/3615679/.