“St. Mary Medical Center and Long Beach Fire Department Lead Statewide Collaboration in Successful Radiological-Chemical Mass Casualty Disaster Drill at Cal State Long Beach”

Last month, St. Mary Medical Center and Long Beach Fire Department staged a mass casualty disaster drill at Cal State Long Beach.

This was a multi-agency drill encompassing entities throughout the state, testing the capabilities of the Long Beach Fire Hazmat team, Long Beach Police as well as the 9th Civil Support WMD specialty teams from the Joint Forces Base and representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency.

The event challenged participants’ ability to effectively respond to a mass casualty event and decontamination, medical surge, patient tracking, crowd control, staff, and patient safety.

The drill was to start at 9 a.m. But a  safety brief with all emergency agencies in attendance was already in full swing. 

Once the exercise started, 25 reenactors played the role of radiologically and chemically impacted patients. The exercise was intended to simulate a radiological or chemical fallout attack or accident, but the primary purpose of the drill was to test the primary responders. 

Members of the fire department in hazmat suits would strip off their gear and uniform and undergo a spray-down and assessment by National Guardsmen. Affected civilians would go to triage after being stripped of their clothes, sprayed down, and changed into patient gowns before being sent to the triage tent. 

After the initial assessment by medical personnel, primarily registered nurses. After initial triage fire department personnel who are already in hazmat suits assess and then bring survivors to the fire truck, where they would be sprayed down with decontamination hoses. 

A National Guard unit ( 9th Civil Support WMD) tested fire department personnel with sensors to detect radiation, before sending personnel to the next phase.

After this phase, patients would be sent ambulances out of the contamination zone to St. Mary’s Medical Center. But for the sake of the simulation, a makeshift hospital was equipped with decontamination hoses.

The exercise went quickly, taking only an hour in duration. Afterwards there was an after-action report in which the various agencies discussed what went well. 

This exercise was to test the capabilities of local agencies in the area on how they would deal with a radiological-chemical fallout scenario and these qualities agencies to train together in coordination.