SAN ANTONIO – Emergency response crews are taking part in a disaster preparedness drill at several locations across the city.
The exercise gives crews a chance to practice for some worst-case scenarios.
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The San Antonio International Airport is hosting of the largest emergency drills. Emergency crews are practicing there in the event of an airplane crash.
That type of drill is required by the Federal Aviation Administration every three years.
In that scenario, a plane has crashed on the airport property grounds with 150 people on board. Fire crews were brought in to put out a fire. Nursing students volunteered to play the part of victims in different states of distress.
"You have some that are walking wounded (and) you have some that are deceased, so our first responders will be able to deal with different types of scenarios," said airport spokeswoman Nora Castro.
Actors playing victims will be transported to several area hospitals. Other locations for the drills include the Emergency Operations Center, Joint Base San Antonio, San Antonio River Authority, Metro Health and the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council.
The entire drill took about an hour to play out, but had it been a real-life crash, Castro said it could have taken days.
According to Castro, there haven't been any major commercial crashes at the airport, but there have been some close calls. Emergency preparedness drills help ensure emergency crews are ready to respond.
"We put these plans in place regardless of (whether) it's a technical issue on a plane or we think it may or may not crash. We want to be ready and don't want to waste any time," said Castro.
In total, more than 600 staff members and about 950 volunteers will be involved.
It's considered the largest single day of emergency exercises on record.