Big Bend, first responders train for mass casualty event

Grant County has seen its share of mass casualty events: a school shooting, chemical releases in the 1980s and 1990s and one of the largest aviation disasters on record. On Tuesday, Big Bend Community College, first responders and other area partners came together for a Mass Casualty Incident exercise.

The scenario set up was a bus driver had a heart attack and crashed into spectators at a soccer game, injuring more than two dozen people.

Participating agencies included Big Bend and Wenatchee Valley Community College, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office, Moses Lake police and firefighters, Grant County fire districts, the Washington State Patrol, Samaritan and Columbia Basin hospitals, EMS, LifeFlight, Region 7 Health Coalition and the Moses Lake School District.

Students from Big Bend’s Upward Bound and nursing programs played the injured actors, and the college’s Medical Simulation Lab also took part.

“It takes a lot of agencies and a lot of different resources working together to respond effectively to an accident such as this, or any type of situation where a lot of people are injured or in danger,” said Matt Killebrew, Big Bend’s director of communications.

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