DAVIS COUNTY, Utah -- South Davis County emergency crews got some hands-on training Sunday as the Utah Transit Authority held a terrorism training drill.
The exercise was a simulation of what it would be like if a bomb were to go off on a FrontRunner train, and it was held at the Woods Cross Station platform located at 750 South 800 West.
“It’s to make sure that our people are well-trained in the event something terrible happens,” UTA Spokesman Remi Barron said.
The mandatory annual event is put on by UTA, and each year the terrorism drill is held in a different city to offer training to different agencies in the state.
“From the bomb squad to our police, law-enforcement, fire, EMS, and Davis County Health Department--so we have a lot of resources here,” said Chief Jeff Bassett of the South Davis Metro Fire Department.
Volunteers participating in the drills as victims had costume make-up to make the scene and their injuries seem more realistic.
Triage was set up and ambulances filled up quickly with several victims, so first responders had to learn how to prioritize patients.
“This event created a derailment, it created a diesel leak from the train itself, and it created a multi-casualty incident on the train where we did have fatalities, we had walking wounded, and everything in between,” Bassett said.
Patrick Meffert is currently taking a class to become an EMT basic, and he thought volunteering to be a part of simulation would give him some interesting insight.
He couldn't break character too much, as he was supposed to be dead, so we interviewed him while he lay on the ground in the medical triage.
“It’s been really interesting listening to how the paramedics and EMTs and firefighters and everybody communicates and prioritizes,” he said. “How they need to move people in and out, and where, you know, unfortunately I died, so I didn't get to see everything but what I saw was good.”
