Emergency Responders Train For Possible Aircraft Crash At Bartlesville Municipal Airport

Green Country emergency responders are preparing for the worst with a mock airplane crash at the Bartlesville Municipal Airport Friday. 

More than a dozen different agencies were at the airport just west of Bartlesville to fine-tune their rescue skills. It was all a drill, but everything the emergency responders did prepared them for if and when the real thing happens. 

The words, "we've had a plane crash'' is something no one ever wants to hear. But when a the call comes emergency responders must be ready to react. 

During the drill, Bartlesville area firefighters knocked down flames in seconds. But Bartlesville Assistant Fire Chief Bill Hollander says in a plane crash scenario, patients are the top priority, not the fire. 

"As a firefighter, you always think, 'put out the fire, put out the fire' and in an airplane incident that's not what you want to do, it's kind of foreign to us," said Assistant Fire Chief Bill Hollander. 

22 volunteer victims suffered from all sorts of simulated injuries - cuts, burns and broken bones -- and some didn't survive. 

Dan Dalton with Bartlesville EMS says this helped medics practice using colors to classify patient conditions. 

"You can't get too hung up on treatment - you've got to do just basic treatment, then you have to triage, meaning prioritize the reds, the greens and the yellows, who gets transported first," said Dan Dalton. 

The most severely injured victims were loaded into a medical helicopter. All the while - emergency responders fine-tuned the one thing they say causes problems at every scene. 

"Everytime you do one of these things, it's always communications 'cause everybody has different radio frequencies," said Dan Dalton. 

But Friday, responders say communication went smoothly, giving them an 'as close to real life' experience as possible. 

"It'll never be a perfect scene, ever, but if we can get as close to perfect as possible, that's what we strive to do," said Assistant Fire Chief Bill Hollander.

Emergency responders involved included Bartlesville Police and Fire Departments, Dewey, Copan and Osage Hills Fire Departments, Washington County Emergency Management, Washington and Osage County Sheriff's Offices, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and American Red Cross. Jane Phillips Medical Center, ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66 also took part in the drill. 

The one thing that was not simulated at Friday's drill was the strong wind, but that's not such a bad thing. Emergency responders is it adds an extra element and makes this exercise all the more realistic.