Pa. Holds Emergency Drill for Volunteer EMTs

Oct. 18--For volunteer emergency medical technicians with Narberth Ambulance, and just about all emergency responders, accidents with mass casualties are rare.

That made SEPTA's full-scale railroad emergency simulation drill Sunday morning in Conshohocken valuable for Justin Jeffers and Alex Becher, who volunteer with Narberth and helped rescue 15 "victims" from a train that struck a car at a railroad crossing.

"This is not something we would normally train on. You can see all the resources," said Jeffers, pointing to the 10 fire trucks, ambulances, and other emergency vehicles from Montgomery County gathered at the site on SEPTA's Manayunk/Norristown line just north of the Conshohocken station.

SEPTA was joined in the simulation by the Conshohocken Emergency Management Agency, the Montgomery County Bomb Squad, nine fire companies, and two ambulance companies. At least 200 people were involved, said Richard Manfredi, Conshohocken's borough manager.

Sunday's exercise was planned long before the May Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia, which killed eight.

The event involved two scenarios that ran simultaneously on separate segments of the SEPTA train. While fire departments and ambulance companies were tending to victims of the train's crash into a white Cadillac Fleetwood, police and the bomb squad were dealing with a terrorist with a bomb elsewhere.

The Federal Railroad Administration requires every passenger railroad to conduct simulations annually, said Jim Bahn, SEPTA's system safety officer.

The first team of emergency responders to arrive was from Narberth Ambulance. They quickly assessed the condition of a dummy trapped under the Cadillac before deciding to focus on victims on the train. They were soon strapped to stretchers and sliding down aluminum ladders propped on window openings to be carried away.

"It's chaos," said Jeffers, 28. But the simulation offers a chance to give it form.

Becher, 29, Jeffers' colleague at Narberth Ambulance, said that even though "mass [casualties] are infrequent, it's critical" to practice.

After the exercise, officials gave an assessment of the drill at a nearby fire house.

SEPTA's fire marshal, Greg Robinson, had some advice about taking out a train's emergency window. Hit it in the corner, not in the middle of the pane, he said. And use the blunt end of an ax or whatever tool is at hand, not the pointy end.

"I can tell someone was hitting [a damaged window] in the middle," he said.

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