(The following report appeared on the Times-Picayune website on April 19.)
NEW ORLEANS — The city’s offices of Emergency Preparedness, Emergency Medical Services and Homeland Security are sponsoring a full scale drill Friday to train local public safety personnel on the proper way to handle incidents involving Amtrak passenger trains. The mass casualty and extrication drill will take place at 9:30 a.m.at the Amtrak station, 1001 Loyola Avenue.
With over 300 passengers traveling through the local Amtrak and Union Passenger Terminal daily to locations as far away as Chicago, New York, and Southern California, this training prepares local responders to deal with incidents that may occur while the Amtrak cars enter or leave the New Orleans region.
The mass causality drill will include the act of extricating patients from the railcar, as well as the triage and care of these individuals. EMS workers and firefighters will be rescuing 15 injured passengers and two fatalities as part of a simulation exercise.