Area Departments Hold Disaster Drill

Disaster Scenario - Area fire departments brought rescue gear and man power to the emergency disaster drill held at Carney Park Saturday morning.

Area fire departments got a chance to deal with a situation that no one hopes will ever arise. The situation was an over turned school bus with children trapped inside.

Area first responders from O'Neill, Atkinson, Chambers, Page and Lynch, got a chance to hone their talents in triage and extrication and running a large scene.

Students from O'Neill High School and St. Mary's volunteered their services to act as the injured. The actors were placed in a bus secured on its side to reenact a bus accident with a car blocking the rear exit forcing rescuers to use their tools to open the top of the bus, to access the injured. The 10 injured including one deceased were taken to Avera St. Anthony's, where the hospital was put to the test in running a mass triage unit. The drill ran about an hour long.