ST. GEORGE — The Utah Association of Emergency Medical Technicians held its annual conference in St. George Friday, and the participants’ presence could be felt — and heard — throughout the city as the group set off explosions as part of a mass casualty training exercise.
The exercise was held at the Ridge Top Complex at the Dixie Applied Technical College Emergency Response Center.
Fourteen “victims” scattered across the former airport tarmac, many with realistic wounds. Medical responders gathered nearby while a countdown for the explosions was broadcast over loudspeakers. When the count reached zero, three powerful detonations occurred several hundred yards away and the emergency personnel sprang into action.
The EMTs quickly found the needed medical equipment and ran out to assess the status of each of the victims, treating them according to the severity of their wounds. It took approximately 35 minutes to clear the tarmac of the wounded.
“We try to train our EMTs and medical first responders to respond to something maybe a little unique or a mass casualty type of exercise,” Utah County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Tom Hodgson said. “So today what they responded to was some explosions. We had 14 victims in the field, they came out and treated those victims, did triage on them and got them proper medical care.”
The task of coordinating multiple agencies was a complex and time-consuming affair, Hodgson said. Approximately 70 personnel took part in each session of the drill. Besides volunteer victims and EMTs, there were also safety officers and observers. Participants came from all across Utah and beyond, with a few responders coming from Colorado, Nevada and Arizona as well.
“This is the fun part,” Hodgson said, referring to the drill. “The coordination is not the fun part.”
Local agencies such as St. George Police Department and the Washington County Sheriff’s Office assisted in the drill, primarily helping secure an appropriate location. Dixie Applied Technical College volunteered its campus, and the Utah County Bomb Squad brought their expertise along to produce the multiple explosions.
“The challenge for us as medical professionals is to train each other, to overcome challenges, to gain new skills, to increase our confidence level in dealing with issues like this,” Hodgson said. “So every year we try to find something that is challenging but a fun event where we can learn and train.”
One component of the drill that gave it added realism was the numerous gruesome mock injuries — known as “moulage” — sported by the victims. Shrapnel wounds, burns and cuts had been realistically applied by volunteer Celia Monroe.
“They were incredible and she does a great job for us in making this realistic and believable,” Hodgson said. “Typically what we see when our responders go out there and come back, some of them say this is so real simply because of the moulage.”
Meg Gardner, an EMT for the Uintah Basin Medical Center, said one of the main points of the exercise is for self-critique, to see how well a group of medical professionals can work together. The training tests participant’s knowledge, communication skills and ability to perform under pressure. Much of what occurs in a real mass casualty incident is not going to be found in a textbook, and requires responders to think on their feet, and adapt to the fluidity of the situation.
The group of EMTs Gardner worked with all came from the same area around Roosevelt.
“We’re all volunteer, a few of us are full-time paid and then the rest we just do it ’cause we’re kind of morbid and crazy,” she said.
The Utah Association of Emergency Medical Technicians is composed of emergency responders from all across Utah, primarily from rural counties; and the warm, sunny climate of St. George is a big reason why the training was held in the city.
“What’s wrong with St. George? We like sunny St. George,” Hodgson said laughing.
The organization has switched locations over the last several years. In 2015 it held its conference in Cedar City. However, after receiving an “overwhelming” response from members asking for the gathering to be held in St. George, the group returned this year.
“We love it here,” he said, “so we’re back.”
After the drill was completed, Hodgson gathered the group and praised them for their efforts. After the debriefing, the team lined up on the tarmac, and had their picture taken while a second set of fireball explosions erupted behind them.
Resources
- Utah Association of Emergency Medical Technicians Website
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The Utah Association of Emergency Medical Technicians held a mass casualty training exercise with a controlled explosion injuring 14 "victims" who were then treated by emergency responders in St. George, Utah, May 20, 2016 | Photo by Don Gilman, St. George News The Utah Association of Emergency Medical Technicians held a mass casualty training exercise with a controlled explosion injuring 14 "victims" who were then treated by emergency responders in St. George, Utah, May 20, 2016 | Photo by Don Gilman, St. George News The Utah Association of Emergency Medical Technicians held a mass casualty training exercise with a controlled explosion injuring 14 "victims" who were then treated by emergency responders in St. George, Utah, May 20, 2016 | Photo by Don Gilman, St. George News The Utah Association of Emergency Medical Technicians held a mass casualty training exercise with a controlled explosion injuring 14 "victims" who were then treated by emergency responders in St. George, Utah, May 20, 2016 | Photo by Don Gilman, St. George News One of the 14 "victims" of a mass casualty exercise organized by the Utah Association of Emergency Medical Technicians in St. George, Utah, May 20, 2016 | Photo by Don Gilman, St. George News An example of the gruesome fake injuries (known as "moulage") worn by the volunteers of a mass casualty exercise. St. George, Utah, May 20, 2016 | Photo by Don Gilman, St. George News One of the 14 "victims" of a mass casualty exercise organized by the Utah Association of Emergency Medical Technicians in St. George, Utah, May 20, 2016 | Photo by Don Gilman, St. George News The Utah Association of Emergency Medical Technicians held a mass casualty training exercise with a controlled explosion injuring 14 "victims" who were then treated by emergency responders in St. George, Utah, May 20, 2016 | Photo by Don Gilman, St. George News The Utah Association of Emergency Medical Technicians held a mass casualty training exercise with a controlled explosion injuring 14 "victims" who were then treated by emergency responders in St. George, Utah, May 20, 2016 | Photo by Don Gilman, St. George News The Utah Association of Emergency Medical Technicians held a mass casualty training exercise with a controlled explosion injuring 14 "victims" who were then treated by emergency responders in St. George, Utah, May 20, 2016 | Photo by Don Gilman, St. George News The Utah Association of Emergency Medical Technicians held a mass casualty training exercise with a controlled explosion injuring 14 "victims" who were then treated by emergency responders in St. George, Utah, May 20, 2016 | Photo by Don Gilman, St. George News The Utah Association of Emergency Medical Technicians held a mass casualty training exercise with a controlled explosion injuring 14 "victims" who were then treated by emergency responders in St. George, Utah, May 20, 2016 | Photo by Don Gilman, St. George News An example of the gruesome fake injuries (known as "moulage") worn by the volunteers of a mass casualty exercise. St. George, Utah, May 20, 2016 | Photo by Don Gilman, St. George News An example of the gruesome fake injuries (known as "moulage") worn by the volunteers of a mass casualty exercise. St. George, Utah, May 20, 2016 | Photo by Don Gilman, St. George News An example of the gruesome fake injuries (known as "moulage") worn by the volunteers of a mass casualty exercise. St. George, Utah, May 20, 2016 | Photo by Don Gilman, St. George News An example of the gruesome fake injuries (known as "moulage") worn by the volunteers of a mass casualty exercise. St. George, Utah, May 20, 2016 | Photo by Don Gilman, St. George News One of the 14 "victims" of a mass casualty exercise organized by the Utah Association of Emergency Medical Technicians in St. George, Utah, May 20, 2016 | Photo by Don Gilman, St. George News The Utah Association of Emergency Medical Technicians held a mass casualty training exercise with a controlled explosion injuring 14 "victims" who were then treated by emergency responders in St. George, Utah, May 20, 2016 | Photo by Don Gilman, St. George News The Utah Association of Emergency Medical Technicians held a mass casualty training exercise with a controlled explosion injuring 14 "victims" who were then treated by emergency responders in St. George, Utah, May 20, 2016 | Photo by Don Gilman, St. George News One of the 14 "victims" of a mass casualty exercise organized by the Utah Association of Emergency Medical Technicians in St. George, Utah, May 20, 2016 | Photo by Don Gilman, St. George News The Utah Association of Emergency Medical Technicians held a mass casualty training exercise with a controlled explosion injuring 14 "victims" who were then treated by emergency responders in St. George, Utah, May 20, 2016 | Photo by Don Gilman, St. George News Utah County Sheriff's Office Lt. Tom Hodgson addresses volunteers at a mass casualty training exercise. St. George, Utah, May 20, 2016 | Photo by Don Gilman, St. George News Participants of a mass casualty drill organized by the Utah Association of Emergency Technicians line up for a group photo while fireballs explode behind them. St. George, Utah, May 20, 2016 | Photo by Don Gilman, St. George News
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It’s official: Every group who comes to town has to celebrate with explosions.
Brainwashing the public to desensitize to mass violence and police state living in the U.S.
Want your kids to die in a school shooting? Just send them on the days when they run these ‘exercises’.
Every time there is a mass shooting, the govt is also doing ‘training’ like depicted in this story.
Want to know why they’re REALLY doing this training?
Google this term: FM 3.39-40
Read the leaked pdf and watch the videos on YouTube about this U.S. Army document.
Then, look up pictures of Auschwitz after seeing the exhibits in the document showing the site plans for the camps and seeing the official uniforms of the detainees.
Yes, this is all brainwashing. This is NOT a free country. You’ve been brainwashed to say, “At least we’re a free country!”
Then again, I know the U.S. Gov’t is true. I know Barack Obama is a true president. I love my Congressman and Senators too. ….sound familiar, Truman Burbank? You live in a manufactured reality over which you believe you have control. You don’t.
Yes, YOU’RE brainwashed and you don’t even know it 😉
I leave this with you in the name of the New World Order, the Military Industrial Complex, and the Federal Reserve Bank, amen.
PS: Enjoy your Zika virus this summer….brought to you by the Rockefeller Foundation that invented it in a lab in Uganda in 1947.
Google: Zika virus atcc
Then, look up the History tab.
Boom!
MindBlown!
…don’t you hate when these conspiracy kooks are right?!!!! I do too!!! I wish I could believe that Santa Claus was real again!