By Chris Kaufman
Appeal-Democrat
MARYSVILE, Calif. — It was only a test.
In a multiple-agency collaboration, local emergency personnel participated in a mass casualty exercise on Thursday in Marysville.
A school bus, parked diagonally near the train tracks, served as the main area of concentration for emergency workers, as various volunteers, complete with moulage make-up, wandered around as part of a statewide medical and health exercise led annually by the California Department of Public Health.
“It’s a multiple-issue incident with a train derailment that caused a chemical spill,” said Marysville Fire Department Chief Dale Vogelsang. “The intent of this is to test our capacity to mitigate a major incident.”
Vogelsang’s was one of many agencies, both public and private, that participated in the exercise that closed Seventh Street near Chestnut Street in the morning.
“There are two acting supervisors here who are managing the scene, and we’re seeing how they’re handling the incident and directing the resources,” said Vogelsang. “We have a countywide hazmat team being tested here, too.”
He was working with dispatchers creating separate but related incidents that emergency personnel would have to react to as part of the exercise.
“No one agency has enough resources to deal with an incident like this right away,” Vogelsang said. “It’s an extreme event, where we would be calling on other agencies to help as needed.”
Marysville Police Department’s dispatch and records supervisor Kelly Mincer was there calling out smaller incidents with help from another dispatcher.
“The good part about this for us is to see what they deal with out here because we’re usually in a dispatch center and can’t see what’s going on,” Mincer said.
Rideout Health’s Department of Emergency Preparedness ran the exercise with participants from Rideout Health, Marysville Fire Department, Linda Fire Department, Wheatland Fire Authority, Yuba City Fire Department, Marysville Police Department and Bi-County Ambulance Service.
Yuba and Sutter County Public Health departments, as well as Yuba and Sutter county emergency services, were part of the annual exercise, as well.
“We conduct these types of trainings so we can be proficient in a real-life disaster response,” Kristen Kolleda, manager of emergency preparedness for Rideout Health, said in a press release.
Sutter County had its own scenario as part of the statewide training, minus the mock accident scene.
“The Sutter County Public Health Department opened a Department Operating Center to monitor and respond to any needs by emergency medical care providers overwhelmed by the mass casualties,” said Chuck Smith, Sutter County’s public information officer. “In a large-scale disaster, the purpose of an operating center is to help direct resources and logistics.”
Smith said their incident involved a 23-car derailment in Live Oak that killed 13 and injured more than 100 with the potential of leaking ammonia.
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