PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Drivers who passed by the Palm Beach International Airport on Wednesday morning may have noticed a large presence of first responders and emergency vehicles.
It was all part of a training exercise mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration to prepare for an actual emergency.
Palm Beach International Airport spokesman Joe Harrington said even though plane crashes and flight emergencies are rare — they're taking steps to make sure everyone who responds knows exactly how to help.
The exercise included a simulation of a plane emergency with fake smoke and actors posing as passengers affected by the disaster.
The drill included about 80 volunteers and dozens of first responders.
"They had the smoke and everything for the crash," volunteer Jason Occean said. "Everybody was separated, and they had the bags and clothing on the floor. In a real scene, they wouldn't be stable or anything like that."
The volunteers for the exercise were students from SouthTech Academy's medical program in Boynton Beach.
"They're simulating injuries that real victims might have if there was an incident," Harrington said. "That really helps the first responders know what to look for, who to treat first. And if we did have a real incident, this is the same process that they would follow."
"Everybody was in different kinds of clothing because when you go on a plane, everyone is in different clothing," Occean said. "It would've been weird if we were all in uniform. Some of them, if they had an injury to the leg, they had to cut their pants open and take care of the injury."
Participants in the exercise included the Palm Beach County Department of Airports, Palm Beach County Fire Rescue, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, FBI, FAA, Department of Emergency Management, airlines, tenants of the PBI and Palm Beach County School Board. Palm Tran provided two buses to simulate an aircraft for the exercise.
Harrington said airplane incidents are rare, but they want to make sure everything on their end is up to standard.
"The FAA requires that PBI and all our partners here at the Department of Airports conduct drills periodically in the unlikely event that there's an aircraft incident so that we're ready," Harrington said.
The exercise did not affect passenger flights, which operated as scheduled Wednesday.
PBIA officials said they serve about seven million travelers each year.
