SPRINGDALE -- Firefighters from six fire departments throughout Northwest Arkansas participated in a mass casualty training exercise Wednesday morning at Malco Sunset Cinema in Springdale, a Springdale Fire Department official said.
Regional training exercises are organized every quarter, and fire department personnel from Springdale, Fayetteville, Rogers, Bella Vista, Eureka Springs and Fort Smith participate.
"This gives us a chance to work with unknown parties, so things will run smoother if we have a real emergency," said Capt. Dustin Kelley of the Springdale Fire Department. "We'll know how to work with them, and they'll know how to work with us."
Each training focuses on a different crisis situation. In the past, firefighters have been trained in how to handle a hazardous materials spill, water rescue and SWAT team situations.
This quarter, firefighters' scenario was to evacuate people from a burning building and execute a triage plan in which the severity of wounds were assessed to decided the order of treatment, Kelley said.
"Getting patients out of the building quickly and getting them out without further injuring them went fairly well," Kelley said. "There were areas we saw that we can improve. Communication is always a challenge. All of the guys have radios and want to tell you what's going on. It's a constant battle, but we can fine tune our skills and make it work better next time."
More than 40 volunteers, many of whom were children, helped in the exercise by acting as victims.
"I thought it'd be fun because I'm really good at acting," said Tristan Sarratt, a 14-year-old student at Northwest Arkansas Classical Academy. "I'm kind of a drama queen."
Other volunteers, such as Jacob Foster, a 14-year-old student at Rogers New Technology High School, participated to gain career experience. Foster dreams of going to Harvard Medical School to become a pharmacist, he said.
"This will help me understand symptoms, so when people come into my pharmacy, I can tell them what over the counter medicine to get," Foster said. "This was cool, and I thought it'd be fun to help firefighters and paramedics train."
During the exercise, firefighters entered the theater to find victims coughing, wheezing or crying for help in raspy voices as if affected by smoke fumes.
One boy slumped in his chair with his head and hand hanging limply over the seat as if unconscious. Another girl sat in the aisle cradling her leg to her chest, complaining it was broken.
Firefighters moved the injured to the parking lot at the back of the building and placed them into groups -- labeled red, yellow or green -- depending on the severity of their wounds, which were indicated by lanyards around patients' necks. Those in the red group were loaded into ambulances and driven to the triage station in front of the theater.
At the station, patients sat under pop-up tents while firefighters tended to their wounds. As one firefighter wrapped a cloth bandage around the head of a little boy, another went to work putting a woman complaining of chest pain on a stretcher.
Though the exercise was designed to be as real as possible, some volunteers couldn't resist cracking jokes.
"I'm not leaving, this was an expensive movie," said Brandon Hales, a freshman who will attend Northwest Arkansas Community College in the fall.
After being persuaded to leave, a firefighter wrapped an arm around Hales' waist to support him as they exited the theater and said, "We'll get you a refund."
NW News on 06/11/2015