HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — A full-scale disaster exercise at the airport involved simulating an aircraft hijacking and subsequent crash.
Early Wednesday morning the Guam International Airport Authority started its Triennial Full-Scale Disaster Exercise with a safety briefing for about a hundred individuals participating in the subsequent four-hour exercise.
Air Terminal Manager Juan Reyes told The Guam Daily Post after the briefing that the participants would be acting as victims in the hijacking and crash.
“So we have 25 that are actually expired … on the site. … And then you have the folks you saw this morning who are playing live victims. So we have different categories,” Reyes said, explaining the “victims” also included those with critical injuries and those who are walking.
“The reason for the 37 is the walking wounded. The air carriers has requirements … to treat and maintain custody of those 37 victims, … those who are injured. So you want to reunite them with their families as soon as they could,” Reyes added.
Following the termination of the exercise, which Reyes said was a collaboration with the Guam Fire Department, Guam Police Department, military counterparts and hospitals, the agencies brief and contact the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board.
“We conduct an after-discussion briefing on new areas of improvement, things that we did well to that extent, and then of course we do an official after-action report that gets forwarded to the FAA. … They review (it) and they find out whether we’re satisfactory or not,” Reyes said.
The exercise is required by the FAA to be done once every three years to test the airport’s emergency plan.
Guam Fire Department firefighters respond to personnel role-playing as victims during Guam International Airport Authority’s Triennial Full-Scale Disaster Exercise in Tamuning on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023.
Guam International Airport Authority firefighters respond during GIAA’s Triennial Full-Scale Disaster Exercise in Tamuning on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023.
