When disaster strikes, there is little time to figure out a plan. For first responders, preparation begins long before an emergency call ever comes in.
That preparation was on full display this week as Sampson County Emergency Medical Services partnered with the Clinton Fire Department and Sampson Community College for a large-scale mass casualty incident training exercise designed to test communication, decision-making and teamwork under pressure.
The simulated scenario challenged emergency personnel to respond to a catastrophic crash involving a passenger bus struck by a tractor-trailer, leaving numerous victims with injuries ranging from minor to life-threatening. While the incident itself was fictional, the lessons learned were very real.
“This training is mass casualty incident training,” Sampson County EMS Chief Erick Herring said. “Basically, a mass casualty incident is any incident that overwhelms your available resources at any given time.”
The exercise forced EMS crews to make difficult decisions while operating with intentionally limited resources. Responders had to quickly triage patients, determine treatment priorities and coordinate transportation based on the severity of injuries. As the simulation unfolded, participants also had to consider requesting additional resources, including mutual aid from neighboring counties and air medical support.
“We’re challenging our EMS personnel because we are limiting their resources,” Herring explained. “They’re going to have to work through the problem, get additional resources, potentially outside county resources, air agencies and things of that nature.”
Although EMS personnel led the medical response, Herring emphasized that successful emergency operations depend on collaboration between multiple agencies.
“In this line of work, we can’t do everything by ourselves,” he said. “We rely on fire departments heavily to help support us in our role. Likewise, when fire departments have large incidents and scenes, they rely on us for medical care and support.”
Exercises like this one give agencies an opportunity to better understand one another’s responsibilities before a real emergency occurs.
“We like to train together when we can,” Herring said. “Unfortunately, we don’t do as much training together as we would probably like to do, but it is good to train with our partnering agencies such as fire departments so we all understand the various roles each other has to play.”
The realistic scenario also served another purpose: preparing responders mentally for the stress and urgency that accompany actual disasters.
Herring said instructors encourage every participant to approach the exercise as though lives truly depend on their actions.
“Take this training seriously because this could be an incident that could happen in Sampson County any day,” he said. “We hope not, but we’ve had incidents in the past where they overwhelmed our resources, and we’ve had to put this training to actual use in the field on live incidents.”
Once the exercise concludes, participants gather to evaluate every aspect of the response. The post-incident review identifies strengths, examines mistakes and develops strategies for improvement before the next emergency.
“We’ll sit down after the fact and look at what things we did right, what things we did wrong and what things we can build upon to be better for the next incident,” Herring said.
While residents may never witness the countless hours of training that occur behind the scenes, Herring said those exercises are essential to ensuring Sampson County’s emergency responders are prepared when the unexpected happens.
By bringing together EMS personnel, firefighters and educational partners in a realistic environment, the agencies continue strengthening the teamwork, communication and coordination needed to protect the community when every second counts.