POSEY CO., Ind. (WEHT) — A tornado rips through a graduation party, but it was not real. It was all part of a mass casualty training exercise for first responders in Posey County.
Deanna Will has been a firefighter and EMT for over 20 years and organized the mass casualty training exercise for six fire departments.
“They never get the opportunity to work together,” Will says. “If something like this to happen, we need to know how they would react.”
Dozens of volunteers got fake injury tattoos and cards listing their blood pressure and severity of injury. Some portrayed head and leg injuries — a branch through the leg or a mother looking for her son
Raygen Hines and Chazlynn Rexing are best friends and acted like they died in the tornado.
“It is a good opportunity for them to like learn and be able to know and how to treat different things,” they said.
Rexing’s dad, Chris, is a firefighter and responded to the scene, but did not know his daughter would be there.
“Initially you know, it was kind of funny at first. But then you know that it can actually happen it did cross your mind,” he says.
Rexing has been a firefighter for five years and says training like this helps them strategize what they would do if it were to happen in real life.
“Initially it is just chaos, even on the way here. We are trying to give out roles of who does what. When you get here, some of that goes out the window, and then instinct take over,” he says.
After arriving, Rexing began tagging victims. Firefighters directed volunteers to different areas for triage, based on the level of injury. After that, firefighters and EMT’s regrouped to learn what they did right and what they could have done better.
“The community is definitely a big help. We’ve got some new members on the department that are very training orientated. So, we are trying to get the community involved and make it fun for everybody,” Rexing says.
