Thank Heavens For This Southern Utah Airport Disaster

You pull up to the airport and, to your horror, find that a terrible accident has just occurred. You happen to be a first responder, but you stay calm. In fact, you're carefully recalling your training to remain composed and aware of what you need to do. A part of you is almost glad to be here, and you might even be thinking about the refreshing treat awaiting you after the disaster. It's not because you're a cold-hearted professional or a savage who enjoys chaos—it's because, in this case, it's not a tragedy at all. It's a training exercise.

First responders in Southern Utah gear up for worst-case scenarios. This week St. George Regional Airport hosted a training exercise to sharpen their readiness for catastrophic situations and mass-casualty events. And no, we are not talking about the tragedy of spilling your complimentary snack before you got to finish it.

These are the big ones, like drills that involve a simulated plane crash, complete with fires and victims spread across the crash site. Now, they don't just do these for fun, commercial airline disaster simulation is a mandatory part of the airport’s response plan, required every three years.

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I had the chance to be part of a citizen emergency response team CERT and participate in several similar training sessions. While our trainings were smaller in scale and focused on what to do in a neighborhood hit by a disaster, it was still intense. The first few sessions were tough as we learned to handle the possibility of extreme tragedies. However, as we worked with local professionals, I grew more and more grateful for the dedication and love they showed, preparing for the worst so they could keep us safe if the event ever happened for real.