Officers from the BVI Fire and Rescue Services lift a person feigning injuries during an emergency drill last Thursday. Photo: CHRYSTALL KANYUCK

What would happen if a packed ferry collided with a yacht in Trellis Bay and a fire broke out on Bellamy Cay?

Officers from the BVI Fire and Rescue Services lift a person feigning injuries during an emergency drill last Thursday. Photo: CHRYSTALL KANYUCK
Residents may knock on wood that such a situation never happens, but in an emergency response exercise held last Thursday afternoon, BVI Airports Authority Fire and Rescue officers were on the scene within three minutes of receiving the distress call.

Police, BVI Fire and Rescue, and Red Cross responders arrived at the scene soon after, as did a medical response team from HMS Protector, a Royal Navy ice-breaker ship that is visiting the territory’s waters before heading to Antarctica.

“I thought everyone did very well. It was excellent,” said Governor Boyd McCleary, who was on hand to observe the exercise along with a team of evaluators from the Department of Disaster Management.

The drill required first responders to bring about 30 passengers from a ferry, some of whom were feigning serious injuries and had to be carried on backboards. Medical responders back on shore, meanwhile, used a small shelter near the dock for triage, or sorting injured people into categories based on the urgency of their need for treatment.

 

See the June 26, 2014 edition for full coverage.

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