Italians, Americans work together in mass-casualty exercise

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Julie Weckerlein
  • 31st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy (AFPN) --  Senior Airman Shaun Hasha expected to spend his morning Sept. 13 strolling the aisles of a local store. Instead, he spent the time running from authorities and choking on toxic fumes.

The 31st Medical Operations Squadron Airman was not overcome by criminal mischief; he was a volunteer during a large mass-casualty exercise.

Airman Hasha and about 30 other base volunteers took part in the event, acting as ordinary shoppers in a local furniture store caught in the middle of a terrorist attack.

The scenario involved terrorists pumping dangerous toxins through the store’s ventilation system, Airman Hasha said.

“I was told to act as panicked as possible,” he said. “One of the effects is for people to start freaking out because they can’t breathe, so I just did it. I acted crazy, trying to get away from the responders and everyone.”

A car explosion in the store’s parking lot began the exercise around 9 a.m. The local police responded first, not knowing the car fire was set as a distraction from what was going on inside the store; however, once customers started crawling out of the store, collapsing and gasping for air, the Italian responders knew something much worse was happening. Within a half hour, responders from all over the region swarmed the area.

“Local (medics) and various specialized response teams were notified, as well as the 31st Medical Group, base fire department and hazardous material team,” said Master Sgt. David Little, noncommissioned officer in charge of the 31st Fighter Wing plans and inspections office, who helped coordinate American involvement.

“The role of the 31st Fighter Wing participants was fairly simple,” he said. “They played the role of Americans who were shopping, so the Italian authorities had to deal with the language barrier when trying to communicate with them.”

A nuclear, biological and chemical team from Venice was flown in by helicopter to where dozens of victims were processed through a decontamination line set up by Airmen from the fire department here.

The exercise, which involved nearly 200 people, was the result of a seed planted many years ago, said Lorenzo Bertulazzi, 31st Fighter Wing prevention and protection officer who was an Italian translator during the exercise.

“The base formed an exercise program … in the 1990s. The Americans worked with the local authorities through the years to train for mass-casualty situations,” he said. “The exercise today is a sort of follow-up on that, with the incident happening off-base and the Americans responding later under the direction of the Italian on-scene commander.”

Local mayors and chiefs, as well as the regional governor, observed the exercise from the sidelines. Mr. Bertulazzi said a command post was set up in the city of Pordenone.

Airman Hasha said that despite the language barrier, he felt confident in the Italians’ abilities to care for him.

“It was pretty realistic,” he said. “Of course, I expected more severe injuries with broken limbs. But the scenario was very realistic, and I think everyone acted appropriately. The Italian authorities knew what they were doing.” (Courtesy of U.S. Air Forces in Europe News Service)