Buffalo Grove Fire Department participates in Mass Casualty Incident Drill

Members of the Buffalo Grove Fire Department participated in a Mass Casualty Incident drill, along with other members of the Combined Area Fire Training (CAFT) including personnel from the Long Grove and Lincolnshire-Riverwoods fire protection districts and the Wheeling Fire Department. The drill was held on Monday, May 23, at the CAFT facility in Buffalo Grove.

The purpose of the drill was to evaluate the actions of the first responders to determine if they were able to identify a patient's signs and symptoms, and deduce whether the patient's condition was an indication of a larger incident.

The mock scenario presented to firefighters and paramedics upon their arrival at the scene included an individual who was a 'restaurant employee' located in his vehicle which was parked in the restaurant's parking lot. The individual communicated he had suddenly become dizzy and was having difficulty breathing while inside the restaurant, so he had left the building. He added that he was feeling better since being outside.

It was determined that there could be multiple patients, and crews were evaluated on their triage of the people at the scene. At one point during the drill, the situation was upgraded and a call for additional help and resources was made. The drill then escalated as senior personnel arrived on the scene to assess management and prioritization of treatment and transportation of the victims.

This experience provided an opportunity for the individual departments to evaluate their personnel, as well as allowed the four departments, who frequently respond on calls together, to work together as one team to mitigate the given situation.

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