ONLY A DRILL

SEPTA HOLDS MOCK DISASTER DRILL IN MEDIA >>

UPPER PROVIDENCE» On any other Sunday the Media Regional Rail Station is pretty quiet compared to the normal hustle and bustle of the weekday, but July 16 was a lot different.

Dozens of emergency and SEPTA personnel helped injured passengers and engineers off two train cars that were filled with smoke after a train hit a motor vehicle. People were bloody with bones protruding out of their bodies, others needed to be taken off the train on a backboard while others were having respiratory problems and were tended to immediately.

Fortunately, this was only a drill to provide passenger train emergency response training in case such an event should ever happen on the SEPTA train rails. SEPTA is required by federal mandates to provide full-scale emergency simulation for passenger railroads, this year being done in Delaware County.

Although there were only 20 volunteers playing victims on the made-up scenario, it was conducted in real-time to simulate what could happen for the average 120,000 people who ride on SEPTA’s 14 routes on any given day.

“This is more than what we would see,” said Rose Tree Fire Company Assistant Chief Bob Brown of the training. “It can be a challenge with a mass causalities incident.”

At approximately 9:30 a.m., the call went out that a train at Media station had hit a car on the rails that resulted in wires falling down on the train, smoke showing in one of the train cars and an on-board SEPTA engineer was injured.

Rose Tree, South Media and Media Hook and Ladder fire companies responded and conducted effective search and rescue operations in the smoky cars. Emergency windows in the train cars were soon knocked out with Riddle Hospital paramedics there to provide medical assistance. In addition to the extraction of a dummy from a totaled car, fire crews had to deal with the possibility of fire and electrical hazards working in such an environment, especially when there could be hundreds of persons on a train.

According to Brown, local emergency agencies met with SEPTA twice before the drill which included a classroom-style presentation and then an in-person evaluation of the station just last week.

About 30 SEPTA personnel were on hand to assist with the real-time emergency drill.

The drill comes just after a minor accident along the Warminster line last week where a truck was tapped by a train that was unloading by a crossing.

Delaware County Medical Reserve Corps and Del- aware County Emergency Services also provided assistance at the drill.

KEVIN TUSTIN – DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA This man was taken off the train guided off by a ladder while he’s strapped to a backboard.

KEVIN TUSTIN – DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA This is the totaled car that was used for practice by local personnel. Today’s drill was to simulate an accident involving a SEPTA train that strikes a car that is then left on the tracks. This practice car was not placed on the tracks for this drill.

KEVIN TUSTIN – DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA SEPTA and EMS personnel coordinate their next moves for this emergency response training.