On Tuesday morning the Fort Dodge Regional Airport and several area emergency agencies put their preparedness to the test during a full-scale aviation disaster exercise.

An incoming airplane filled with passengers had trouble with its landing gear and as it touched down, the gear collapsed and a wing hit the ground, flipping the plane. Critically injured passengers — simulated “victims” played by local volunteers — lay scattered across the runway and surrounding grass fields. The plane’s fuselage — an old school bus — catches fire and is quickly engulfed in flames.

Organizers of the drill wanted to make it as close to the real thing as possible, said Rhonda Chambers, the director of aviation at the Fort Dodge Regional Airport.

“The No. 1 thing is always communications,” Chambers said.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Area firefighters spray down the burned-out hull of an old school bus that was used to simulate an airplane's fuselage following a crash during a full-scale disaster drill at the Fort Dodge Regional Airport on Tuesday morning.

A myriad of agencies and community partners participated in an array of roles on Tuesday and they needed to be able to effectively communicate during a crisis like a plane crash.

“I think it was great,” Chambers said of the exercise. “The amount of different agencies that participated was outstanding … It’s a good test of their capabilities.”

To start off the exercise, the Federal Aviation Administration Minneapolis Air Route Traffic Control Center actually called the Webster County Telecommunications Center to tell them of the incoming plane having trouble with its landing gear. From there, dispatchers started working their way down the list of emergency responders needed on site — fire, medical and law enforcement. Fire Departments from Fort Dodge, Badger and Barnum arrived to help with any fires or explosions, and emergency medical providers brought in ambulances to get critical patients to the hospital. Law enforcement was on scene to help manage the area surrounding the crash site — in an actual crisis, they’d most likely need to corral the crowds that would inevitably congregate nearby.

The disaster drill and the notification of all the moving parts were run in real-time to further emulate an actual emergency.

“It shows the importance of mutual aid and having those pre-plans on who’s responding out here and whether you need them or not,” said Webster County Emergency Management Coordinator Dylan Hagen.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Fort Dodge Fire Department paramedic Shea Rose and EMT Brian Egemo load a "victim" onto a stretcher during a full-scale disaster drill at the Fort Dodge Regional Airport on Tuesday morning.

Part of that was having the Badger and Barnum fire departments coordinate extinguishing the fire engulfing the mock fuselage. The airport has used the old school bus during all of its full-scale exercises, Chambers said, but this is the first time they’ve set it aflame.

“Most of the time, we’ve done just like smoke bombs that created the illusion of smoke, but this is the first time that we actually had fire for them to put out,” she said.

In addition to having Fort Dodge Fire Department ambulances waiting to transport “victims” to the hospital, Hagen and Chambers had UnityPoint Health LifeFlight fly in and land as if to pick up a patient.

Tuesday’s drill didn’t just test the capabilities of those who would respond to the airport in the event of a plane crash, it tested the surge plan for the UnityPoint Health – Trinity Regional Medical Center’s emergency department. As the closest hospital, most victims would initially be transported to TRMC for treatment or transfer to another medical center.

The emergency room staff at TRMC quickly jumped into action, said Desiree Monaghan, director of surgical and emergency services.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
The Fort Dodge Regional Airport's fire tanker sprays down the burning "fuselage" during Tuesday's full-scale disaster exercise on Tuesday morning.

“They were able to handle the quick influx of mock patients while still providing excellent care to our current patients,” she said.

Monaghan said that overall, the drill was a success in preparing hospital staff for something like an aviation disaster.

“It’s not every day you get to practice caring for multiple patients in a plane crash and our teams should be proud of the teamwork that happened across the organization,” she said.

UnityPoint staff and Trauma Coordinator Ashley Elder began coordinating with the FDFD and airport staff months ahead of the drill, said Sherry Abens, emergency services manager.

“We do not give our Emergency Department team any information about the drill ahead of time to prevent them from planning ahead for the event — this allows them to react in real time,” Abens said.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
A Barnum firefighter fills up a water tank during the full-scale disaster drill at the Fort Dodge Regional Airport on Tuesday morning.

She said that Elder and the staff put in a lot of time to prepare for these types of situations so they can be ready at any time.

During Tuesday’s drill, patients were triaged at the scene by emergency medical first responders and given a colored tag coordinating to the severity of their injuries. Red for critical patients, yellow for those with serious injuries that are not immediately life-threatening or green for “walking wounded” with minor injuries.

Patients are triaged again upon arriving at the hospital, Abens said. Red tags will stay in the ED for treatment, yellow tags will be moved to another department for treatment and green tags will be moved to another staging area for treatment.

Abens noted that during an actual mass-casualty event, the incident command center at the site would typically call surrounding medical facilities to determine how many beds they would have available and what types of patients they would be able to absorb.

The FAA requires all “Class I” airports, which are those that have regularly scheduled operations with large passenger aircraft with at least 31 passenger seats, to conduct disaster training every year, according to the FAA website. The exercise can be “table top” for two years, where the parties discuss the scenario in theory, and then the airport has to have a full-scale exercise every third year.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Fort Dodge Fire Department medical personnel wheel a "victim" toward a waiting ambulance during a full-scale disaster drill at the Fort Dodge Regional Airport on Tuesday morning.

This was the first time since 2018 that the Fort Dodge Regional Airport has executed a full-scale drill. The reason for the five-year gap was partially because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also because for a few of those years, the airport technically wasn’t required to do the full-scale, Chambers said. Prior to United Express, operated by Skywest Airlines Inc., began serving Fort Dodge in March 2021, for about six years, the airport did not operate with large passenger aircraft, but Chambers said the airport still conducted the full-scale exercises every three years.

“Even though with smaller aircraft, we weren’t required to, we still did because this kind of training is invaluable,” she said.

That training nearly came in handy last July, when a private airplane headed to Lincoln, Nebraska, was diverted to Fort Dodge after one of the engines on the 2011 Cessna Citation Excel business jet failed. All of the necessary agencies were dispatched out to the airport in preparation for the aircraft’s arrival and, fortunately, it made a safe landing and no injuries were reported.

Every incident is going to be different, Chambers said, but trainings like Tuesday’s give first responders and responding agencies a foundation to start from during a chaotic crisis.

“We still know the basics of who’s who and what role are we all going to play,” she said. “That in itself is why we do it.”

Following Tuesday’s drill, the key players involved gathered to discuss the exercises’ successes and needs for improvement.

The following agencies also participated in Tuesday’s exercises: Iowa State Patrol, Fort Dodge Police Department, Webster County Health Department, the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, United Airlines, SkyWest, the 133rd Test Squadron, MIDAS/DART, the Transportation Security Administration, as well as the emergency management authorities of Humboldt, Hamilton and Calhoun counties.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
A UnityPoint Health LifeFlight helicopter lands near the simulated wreckage of an airplane crash at the Fort Dodge Regional Airport on Tuesday morning.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Hamilton County EMA Coordinator Tim Zahn, left, and Webster County EMA Coordinator Dylan Hagen observe the disaster drill from the emergency vehicles staging area at the Fort Dodge Regional Airport.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
An old school bus was filled with wooden pallets and set on fire to simulate the burning fuselage of an airplane crash during Tuesday morning's full-scale disaster drill at the Fort Dodge Regional Airport.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Area firefighters look into the burned-out hull of an old school bus that was used to simulate an airplane's fuselage following a crash during a full-scale disaster drill at the Fort Dodge Regional Airport on Tuesday morning.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
The Badger and Barnum fire departments were among those participating in a full-scale disaster exercise at the Fort Dodge Regional Airport on Tuesday morning.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Three of the Fort Dodge Fire Department's ambulances line up awaiting "victims" during the full-scale disaster exercise at the Fort Dodge Regional Airport on Tuesday morning.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
An old school bus was used to simulate the burning fuselage of a crashed passenger airplane during a full-scale disaster drill at the Fort Dodge Regional Airport on Tuesday morning.