LOS ANGELES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT PRACTICES EMERGENCY RESPONSE, DEBUTS NEW FIRE APPARATUS DURING FULL-SCALE SIMULATION OF AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT
(Los Angeles, California – April 13, 2016) The simulated accident of a wide-body international airliner landing at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) provided the background as hundreds of emergency-response personnel from nearly 20 agencies – as well as nearly 150 volunteers portraying casualties – conducted a two-hour, unrehearsed full-scale exercise today.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mandates U.S. airports to conduct an exercise at least once every three years in which personnel, equipment, and other resources are mobilized and deployed in order to test airports’ emergency-response procedures and overall preparedness to address an aircraft accident. Over 500 responders and volunteers participated and another 200 representatives from airlines and other aviation-related organizations attended.
The LAX Air Exercise (AirEx) occurred on the restricted airfield adjacent to the Flight Path Learning Center & Museum, 6661 West Imperial Highway, Los Angeles.
"LAX welcomed nearly 75 million travelers last year — people we must take every possible step to protect," said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. "This Air Exercise is an incredible collaborative feat that puts the training and skill of our first-responders on full display. We can all feel safer knowing these brave men and women are ready to act if disaster should strike."
“Drills like this one remind us how important it is to not only have an emergency plan but to practice it regularly,” said Los Angeles City Councilmember Mitchell Englander, chair of the Council’s Public Safety Committee. “I want to thank the over 500 firefighters, operations personnel, and local and federal law-enforcement officers -- and especially the over 150 volunteers -- participating in today’s drill for creating a culture of preparedness and public safety for our residents and for the nearly 75 million travelers who pass through LAX each year.”
“The traveling public – as they should – expects nothing less than a full response of trained and experienced professionals should an aircraft accident occur at LAX,” said Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners President Sean Burton. “The full-scale, realistic nature of this exercise will help test the readiness of the airport’s emergency-response and management system and provide insights into areas needing improvement.”
In time for this year’s LAX AirEx, six new Aircraft Rescue Firefighting (ARFF) apparatus made one of their first appearances. The new apparatus, which cost $5.7 million total, gives the on-airfield ARFF Station 80 additional capacity for carrying water and other firefighting agents, and provide redundancy so firefighters can cover two emergencies simultaneously. The six new apparatus replace the airport’s existing four, three of which are being reassigned to LAX’s sister airports at Van Nuys and LA/Ontario International and the fourth remaining at LAX as backup. The new ARFF apparatus far exceeds the FAA requirements for fire protection at a large commercial airport.
“These cutting-edge ARFF fire trucks will enable the LAFD to better serve the traveling public and supports the airport’s operations mission of providing the traveling public with a safe and efficient airport, and to proudly serve our passengers by engaging in a high level of customer service and ongoing enforcement of Federal Aviation Administration regulations with regards to safety,” said Los Angeles Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas.
The new apparatus are 2015 Panthers manufactured by Rosenbauer America in Montana, Minnesota. Each six-wheel-drive (6X6) vehicle features a state-of-the-art, 54-foot-long, high-reach extendable turret equipped with a spray nozzle and a piercing nozzle. The spray tip is capable of dispensing water/foam at 1,000/500 gallons per minute and dry chemical at 19 pounds per second. The piercing tip is capable of dispensing water/foam or Halotron, a clean fire-extinguishing agent. The new ARFF apparatus are also supplied with a forward-looking infrared camera, a 350-gallons-per-minute bumper turret, a 3,000-gallon water tank, a 500-pound dry chemical system, a 460-pound Halotron clean-agent system, and a 400-gallon aqueous film-forming foam system.
The organizations that took part in today’s LAX AirEx include: several divisions of Los Angeles World Airports; Los Angeles Fire, Police and Emergency Management departments; the American Red Cross – Los Angeles Chapter, Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Department and Coroner’s Office; Federal Bureau of Investigation; Federal Aviation Administration; National
Transportation Safety Board; Transportation Security Administration; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; the cities of El Segundo, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach; Virgin Australia Airlines; ambulance services; and local medical facilities.
“The first responders participating in today’s full-scale exercise are the same ones who will be called upon to respond to emergencies at LAX,” said Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) Deputy Executive Director – Operations and Emergency Management Jacqueline Yaft. “An exercise of this magnitude gives these men and women the opportunity to make real-time decisions and take action in a stress-filled environment, as they would in the event of a catastrophic incident.”
The exercise scenario involved a Boeing 777 that, while landing at the end of a long international flight, strikes a service vehicle on the runway and bursts into flames. To help create a more immediate situation, rescue workers and other responders also triaged and treated accident victims portrayed by approximately 150 volunteers in moulage (castings/molds and makeup applied to simulate injuries).
While today’s event was a full-scale exercise, many of the people participating also take part in regularly scheduled indoor table-top and outdoor trunk-top training exercises in which they respond to a variety of emergency situations that could potentially occur at LAX. One of the goals of today’s exercise was to put the training and skills into practice, with the addition of elements that can be expected at the scene of an actual aircraft emergency.
Other objectives of the AirEx included: assessing the agencies’ initial response protocols; assessing the capability to establish an Incident Command/Unified Command Post and achieve command and control; demonstrating rescue capabilities, including firefighting response and medical/triage treatment; and assessing capabilities of the multiple agencies to exchange information. The AirEx was developed during the past nine months by a core Exercise Planning Team comprised of Los Angeles World Airports, other City of Los Angeles departments, and federal agencies. The AirEx is the first of three exercises planned for the next several months using the same scenario. The additional exercises will practice portions of the LAX Family Assistance Support Plan with multiple airline partners and a Staging Area Exercise coordinated by Los Angeles Airport Police.
About Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
LAX is the seventh busiest airport in the world and third in the United States. LAX served more
than 74.9 million passengers in 2015. LAX offers 692 daily nonstop flights to 85 cities in the U.S. and 928 weekly nonstop flights to 69 cities in 34 countries on 59 commercial air carriers. LAX ranks 14th in the world and fifth in the U.S. in air cargo tonnage processed, with more than 2.1 million tons of air cargo valued at over $86.9 billion. An economic study in 2011 reported that operations at LAX generated 294,400 jobs in Los Angeles County with labor income of $13.6 billion and economic output of more than $39.7 billion. This activity added $2.5 billion to local and state revenues. LAX is part of a system of three Southern California airports – along with LA/Ontario International and Van Nuys general aviation – that are owned and operated by Los Angeles World Airports, a proprietary department of the City of Los Angeles that receives no funding from the City’s general fund.
For more information about LAX, please visit www.lawa.aero/lax or follow on Twitter @flyLAXAirport , on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LAInternationalAirport, and on YouTube at www.YouTube.com/laxairport1.
Information about LAX’s ongoing multi-billion-dollar LAX Modernization Program, as well as tips and shortcuts to help navigate LAX during construction, are available at www.LAXisHappening.com.
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