Exercise leads to disaster

By WGCDR Geoff Patchett
Williamtown became a disaster scene when a tour bus failed to stop at the traffic lights at the end of Runway 12 and was hit by a civilian aircraft making a landing approach on May 28.

Two of the 20 passengers on the bus were killed and two were seriously injured. The aircraft continued down the runway before bursting into flames. The 35 passengers on the aircraft suffered various injuries – three fatal.

Within 15 seconds of the tower sounding the alarm the fire fighters were on their way and were quickly on the scene, preventing further fire damage, eliminating the carbon fibre hazard and starting to assist the injured. Air Force medical teams immediately followed but were overwhelmed by the number of casualties.

The Emergency Operations Centre swung into action, coordinating the responses and sending out requests for support, but because of Williamtown’s isolation from major population areas it was about 20 minutes before substantial assistance could arrive. Eventually nearly 100 civilian emergency services personnel responded to the calls, providing site control, medical support, rescue assistance and forensic investigations.

Meanwhile, at the civil terminal NSW Police and airport staff worked to match passengers with waiting relatives and pass on information about injuries.

But by 11.30am, the 100 or so role players took off their bandages, washed off the fake blood and walked to the Sergeants Mess for a well-earned barbecue lunch. There they received a vote of thanks for their valuable contribution to Williamtown’s biggest ever CrashEx.

Everyone agreed that it had been a valuable exercise that had tested the base emergency response capability and firmly established a good working relationship with the civilian agencies that would provide essential support in the event of any significant emergency.

Base Commander Wing Commander Ian Farnsworth said many useful lessons had come out of the exercise.

“If we had to pick the major lesson, it would be to maintain our contacts with the civilian emergency services and regularly exercise our working relationships with them,” he said.

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