Disaster Planning, Logan-Style

By Chief Robert Donahue, Massachusetts Port Authority Rescue Department
Created: February 5, 2007

Step-by-step account of a recent terror exercise

Full-Scale Response in Pittsburgh

On September 27, 2006, Pittsburgh International Airport, operated by the Allegheny County Airport Authority, conducted its FAA-required full-scale disaster drill training exercise. According to the airport, the mock scenario involved an All Star Airlines jet with 136 souls on board that had caught fire outside of the terminal; the flames quickly spread to the building.

The drill involved more than 50 agencies, including the fire department, police department, airport operations, airport maintenance, and the Valley Ambulance Authority, as well as fire and rescue personnel from local communities. Once the FAA tower initiated the crash phone, emergency personnel responded.

More than 100 volunteers were recruited from around the region to play the role of victims. The disaster drill was the first test of the Allegheny County Airport Authority’s Start Team, which is a group of employees who volunteer to immediately respond to an emergency and assist emergency personnel in setting up a triage and transporting victims to this area. The Start Team was formed during recent Part 139 training classes.

According to the director of communications, JoAnn Jenny, participation of mutual aid companies was greater during this drill than before due to increased coodination on the part of the airport authority’s fire department. This was also the first time the airport used the National Incident Management System (NIMS), for which training was recently completed by the Authority.

Jenny says each disaster training drill is an opportunity to learn and there is always room for improvement. From this incident specifically, Jenny says the airport learned interagency communications could use some work.

The next full-scale drill for the airport authority will be in 2009. Before that, the airport plans a number of tabletops in various areas, as well as working with a local nuclear plan on a disaster drill at Allegheny County Airport in West Mifflin, PA, a general aviation facility also operated by the Allegheny County Airport Authority.