Randall's Island, New York -- Marines joined the New York Fire Department for a joint terrorist attack response training exercise april 19-22, at the Randall's Island Fire Academy.
The Chemical Biological Incident Response Force (CBIRF), based 30 miles outside Washington D.C., is an emergenct force that responds to any chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yeild explosive incident which cannot be handled by local, state or other federal agencies.
The Marines spent all day for the first couple of days training. They would arrive on Randall's island before sunrise and divide into three groups, each completeing a different section of training. The training included finding and rescuing victims in a collapsed structure, to rappelling down buildings and extracting victims from mangled vehicles. Most of the Marines had experience rappelling, but few had ever used hydraulic cutters to rip opend a car or drill through a six inch layer of concrete to find a casualty.
"I love cutting up cars," said Staff Sgt. Kelly Van Sickle, who workds in the headquarters battalion of CBIRF, after participating in the training. "I came from a background of firefighting before i got here. A lot of things that have been invented as far as rescue came from here. These guys know what they are doing."
On the last day of training, the Marines and firefighters participated in a joint exercise putting their combined training to the test.
The scenario was planned during the week by the lead instructor at the CBIRF Operator's Course and by the instructors from the fire department, who witheld the details from the Marines until the very last moment.
"It's part of the Training," said Staff Sgt. Timothy Easterling, a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and High-yield explosive tech with CBIRF, explaining the need for the surprise scenario. "If something like this were to happen we wouldn't know what we were getting into until we got there."
When the event started, the firefighters were the first ones on the scene. They cleand up a simulated bus bombing and treated the casualities that were strewn across the area. while still guiding the last of the mock victims, the firefighters then received word of a simulated chemical attack at a different location. the fire chief, realizing the need for assistance, called in the Marines.
Immediatley, the command unit rushed in and received the situation brief from the fire chief. The decontamination, extraction and medical vehicles arrived shortly after the command unit and began setup. Each of the teams were ready to begin work within moments of arrival.
during setup, the reconnaissance team, in their full chemical protective suits, headed towards the subwaysimulator to observe the situation and start the rescue effort. The extraction team rushed into the building next, carrying firefighters who were lying throughout the subway pretending to be wounded civilians in order to save as many casualites as they could. The team used hunting sleds to drag the injured and the decontaminated the victims with water hoses. Extractors carried the casualites to the decontamination tent where the decontamination team scrubbed them down to remove all remaining chemical residues.
the casualties were checked with a chemical detector after leaving the decontamination tent. Corpsmen completed the final step in the process; stabilizing the victims before sending them off to hospitals for further medical attention.
The Marines completed the drill, in two hours, one hour less then expected. They transported over 60 casualties from the subway and other locations through decontamination, to medical facilities.
"They got up and running really quick," said Lt. Ian Swords with the FDNY. "Knowing what i know of the Marine Corps, they worked as fast and as well as I expected them to. I had high hopes that they would come out and get it done quickly."