Emergency Training Exercise: Crisis at Dubbo airport
Published Date: 25 Mar 2018
Summary
Dubbo emergency services were tested on their skills and reactions on Saturday night in a crisis scenario.
At 6.30pm there was a bomb scare at the airport. A mum found a suspicious bag in the terminal and the airport was evacuated.
Shortly after a plane full of school children crashed. As frantic parents tried to find out more information, emergency services were dealing with the scene.
Ten people were killed and many more injured.
Orana Mid-Western Police District Inspector Dan Skelly said the incident, which took six months of planning, would help better prepare all of the services if there was an incident at the airport.
The task and performances of those would be evaluated and changes would be made, he said.
The emergency exercise will continue on Sunday at Dubbo Hospital.
The hospital will have to test how they would deal with an influx of injured plane passengers, as well as ten dead bodies.
4.20PM: Emergency services and volunteers will test their skills at the Dubbo City Regional Airport on Saturday.
Beginning at 4pm more than 200 participants, including organisations such as the NSW Police, State Emergency Services, Dubbo Hospital, Royal Flying Doctor Service, Dubbo Regional Council and the Salvation Army, will take part in the training exercise.
Orana Mid-Western Police Force said the exercise was initially planned for December 2, 2017 but was postponed due to inclement weather.
“Your Dubbo emergency service operatives want to keep you safe, so we are training for the worst so we know if it happens for real, we are in the best possible position to respond,” police said.
“We can't give away the scenario but the whole exercise will involve over 200 participants, made up of emergency personnel, official visitors, and volunteers, and a heap of props.”
