Mock disaster strikes library
The Merrill Library was turned into a disaster zone Friday when USU campus police used it as a training ground for the Community Emergency Response Team.
Lt. Steve Milne said, “It’s not very often you can get a facility like this that you can go and train in. We’ve had our eye on it for years, ever since we found out that it was going to be demolished. The university has been very good about delaying the destruction so we can use it. It worked out well for everybody.”
The training that started at noon on Friday consisted of 28 victims and three CERT teams with five people per team.
The people who were victims arrived at 10 a.m. to apply makeup and receive instructions on what to do.
“We have a wide range of injuries,” Sgt. Lynn Wright, former emergency management coordinator, said. “Anything from amputations to internal injuries, open and closed fractures, hysteria, contusions to the hand and face, deep lacerations and head injuries. We even have an open wound to the lung where we put Alka Seltzer in some fake blood to make it look like air was escaping.”
The CERT teams’ duties are to treat and help people until trained emergency services can reach the scene of a disaster.
“The theory is, if something were to happen today and we have an earthquake, valley resources are stretched thin, so we have to take care of ourselves until emergency services can get here,” Milne said. “The training is to help the CERT people get an idea of what to do, how to start, how to organize; that way, when other services come they don’t have to start from scratch.”
As someone called out, “OK, it’s live!” a woman ran up to the first team on the scene telling them that her daughter was missing. The team began to search from room to room, marking with grease pencils what hazards were in the room and indicating that it had been searched.
“They’re the first ones on the scene. There’s a lot of confusion, trying to figure out how to evaluate the victims. The last thing they want to do is get held up with someone that’s not that seriously injured when someone in the next room is dying,” Milne said.
As the other teams arrived and more victims began to be found, the drill began to take on an eerie feeling as screams, moans and cries for help came from every direction. A man with glass sticking out of his head slumped against a wall and woman went through the halls looking for her missing husband.
“They need to learn to coordinate as a team or they’ll do twice the work. This is the third time that door has been checked,” Matt Bilodeau, an evaluator from the Sheriff’s Office, said. “There’s a lot of stress involved – crying people and the wounds – and it’s hard to deal with.”
As the CERT teams found people, they treated the wounds and took them to the makeshift triage on the floor below. They asked questions and tried to keep the victims calm while they were treated.
“One of the first things that’s going to come out is communication. Communication is always a problem, but this way in a live situation they’ll know how to communicate better,” Milne said.
Lt. Shane Sessions said that it’s best to be prepared to deal with a disaster because at any time there could be a lot of people in any building on campus that could be hurt if something happened.
There are more than 400 people on campus that have been trained to be part of CERT, Milne said, and the library provided a unique setting for more people to be trained. Milne said county SWAT teams will also be using the building for training over the next two weeks.
Wright said if people want to get involved, they have to clear it with their supervisor and contact Judy Crockett with campus police. The trainings run for eight weeks with one three-hour session a week.
-dilewis@cc.usu.edu
Mock disaster victim Merisa Allen lies in the safe room during Wednesday’s mock disaster in the Merrill Library. Her mother looks over her.