GRASS VALLEY Calif. April 23, 2018 – A regional mass causality incident drill was held on Saturday April 21, 2018 at the Nevada County Public Training Center to prepare Nevada County fire agencies and cooperators for mass casualty incidents. In response to the many recent events and acknowledging the need for our agencies to improve our operational readiness in regard to mass casualty incidents. The drill focused on cooperative response to Mass Casualty Incidents in our region ultimately benefiting our community.
The drills was a real life scenarios simulating a vehicle into a crowd with 18 patients. Live patients (actors) were use with makeup to simulate injuries, and role playing to bring a realism to the event.
All of the following agencies participated: Nevada County Consolidated FD, Grass Valley FD, Nevada City FD, Peardale-Chicago Park FD, Penn Valley FD, Rough and Ready FD, North San Juan FD, Cal Fire, Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital Ambulance, Sierra Sacramento Valley EMS, Grass Valley ECC, and Sutter Roseville Hospital (control Facility).
We had specific objectives that were established so we may learn from this drill and ultimately improve the level of service to our public.
Those objectives were:
• Improve operational effectiveness between Nevada County fire agencies, EMS providers, and our control facility.
• Evaluate communications between agencies.
• Reinforce and practice command and control of MCI incidents utilizing the ICS system.
• Identify and improve on any deficiencies in regard to our MCI response and equipment.
• Utilize new MCI equipment in a real life scenario.
Our intent is to host a drill like this annually involving more and more agencies, and continue our preparation with the hope that we never have to use the skills learned.