Plane Crash Simulation Part Of Long Valley Squad Training

LONG VALLEY, NJ — What would happen if Long Valley’s First Aid Squad members were called to the scene of a midair collision of two small planes?

The squad’s EMS and Rescue Services tested out scenarios recently, by replicating a crash scene with more than 45 of its members in different roles, with the single-engine planes dropped between 100 to 200 feet into a ravine.

“This immersive exercise was designed to challenge responders mentally and physically, addressing triage, critical medical assessment and treatment skills, disentanglement, extrication, vehicle stabilization and communication,” the Squad explained in its social media post about the exercise.

Seven members role-played as injured passengers, applying fake blood and theatrical, gaping wounds during their scenes, contorting their bodies as if they were found twisted in the fuselage’s wreckage.

As part of rescuing the participants, some squad members dropped down the embankment, with a “Casualty Collection Point” high above the scene, after they retrieved the “injured.” This staging area would help ambulances to enter and exit the scene, as they would need to during an actual emergency.

Matt Steenberg, an EMS physician with the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center EMS & Disaster Fellowship, worked on the exercise with members.

Click here to view complete information about the training, plus the squad's photos.

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