A half-mile offshore, a commercial jet crashes into the ocean. The casualties: 103 dead, 137 injured. Fifty are alive and well.
About 300 people from 40 local agencies took part in an airport disaster drill Tuesday morning off Port Everglades, honing open-water rescue skills and testing communication among local, state and federal organizations.
The U.S. Coast Guard enlisted Howard Hughes' former 307 Stratoliner, turned plane boat, to simulate a half-submerged fuselage. "Victims" jumped into the ocean off a Coast Guard cutter. Private SeaTow inflatable boats and small Fort Lauderdale and Broward County patrol boats helped shuttle the wounded back and forth. And helicopters buzzed overhead, helping spot floating wounded.
Coast Guard Lt. Tony Russell declared the exercise successful, although he said the real proof will be compiled after evaluations by participants and observers are tabulated. The Coast Guard practices weekly with smaller exercises and usually participates in one large-scale water disaster drill a year with surrounding agencies.
"Every time we do one of them, we get better and we get more safe," Russell said.
The garage at the port was clogged with the fire engines, ambulances and rescue crews participating in the event.
"It's been pretty much a home run to get this many agencies together," said Broward Fire & Rescue Assistant Chief Todd LeDuc. "We go back to lessons learned at the World Trade Center. One of the biggest challenges was communication."
LeDuc said if there was anything that could be improved upon, it would be the sense of urgency that real-life scenarios carry and exercises, by their nature, don't live up to.
Nicole Zengen, a 20-year-old aspiring paramedic, was tapped along with other Broward Community College and City University students in a made-up army of walking wounded sprawled in chairs and otherwise laid out at Pier 4 of Port Everglades. Fake blood had been dabbed on her temple and a green information card hung around her neck identifying her as Kelly Turner, head injury with possible neurological damage.
On a scale of one to four, Zengen gave Tuesday's exercise twos and threes. She said it was good overall from a communications standpoint but could have been better organized.
In all, Zengen has played dead or wounded in six such disaster drills. She was prepared to fake a fainting spell for this one.
However, she said, "When I was about to get into the helicopter, they ended it."
