SOUTH TALLAHASSEE, FL — The Tallahassee International Airport held a large-scale emergency training exercise Thursday.
Dozens of volunteers acted as victims to help first responders practice for a potential aircraft emergency.
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The realistic training included volunteers with fake injuries created by special effects makeup.
Participants received cards describing their roles and injuries to make the scenario as authentic as possible.
The exercise featured a burning plane and emergency teams from Florida State University and other agencies.
"It's a highly coordinated event that involves over 40 agencies and organizations, all here to help us ensure that we're ready to respond to an aviation-related disaster. We've also got over 150 volunteers who have come here to serve as victims of the airplane crash or friends and relatives. And so it's just been, it's a really positive environment," TLH Deputy Director of Aviation Vanessa Spaulding said.
Volunteer Alan Hanstein said, "Without the volunteers this wouldn't feel like a real activity or real exercise."
"Without practicing this, there's no way to experience this other than training or the real thing. And they don't want to have the real thing be the first time they've ever seen something like this," he added.
Hanstein says the training is emotional, even though participants know it's an exercise.
The airport conducts these drills every three years to ensure first responders stay prepared for real emergencies.
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