SRSO Conducts Mass Casualty Drill 

On July 24, 2009 the above date Sheriff Wendell Hall and his staff at the Santa Rosa Sheriff's Office participated in a mass casualty drill. The exercise was a simulation of a small plane that crashed into the jail, which happens to be attached to the administrative offices of the agency. This exercise was not as unrealistic as it appears since within the last year a young man attempting to fake his death by bailing out his plane leaving it on auto-pilot. He exited the aircraft around Birmingham , Alabama apparently hoping the aircraft would crash into the Gulf of Mexico where his death and missing body would appear more genuine. However, the plane crashed within one mile of the Santa Rosa County Jail . To add to the realism the jail is also located within a mile of the Milton Airport where several plane crashes have already occurred on take off. So as you can see from this information the scenario is closer to reality than people may think.Based on this scenario, planning teams were formed and preparations were made for the joint operation to take place on July 24, 2009. Taking part in the exercise were members of the Sheriff's Office, Emergency Medical teams, Florida Department of Corrections, local fire departments, and Emergency Operation Center personnel. Smoke machines were brought in to simulate a raging fire while inmates were selected and designated as casualties, landing zones for choppers were picked, local media were notified ahead of time, and other agencies were forewarned of the pending drill.At 1:00 PM on the day of the exercise dispatch put out the call that a small private plane had crashed into the jail. Immediately, calls were sent out to other supporting agencies to send their personnel for assistance. Fire trucks and ambulances were dispatched and patrol deputies began arriving at the scene. The Sheriff's Office Command Bus was brought in and quickly became the temporary quarters of the Incident Command staff. The Santa Rosa Correctional Institution sent a portion of their staff to assist in security of the inmates while rescue operations were being conducted.By days end over forty inmates and detention personnel had been evacuated from the facility. Some were transported off grounds by ambulance and one by helicopter. Debriefing sessions were held as soon as all reports were gathered and submitted to administration. Sheriff Hall and his staff reviewed the reports from each section looking for possible loopholes in procedures and/or policies. Any area not specifically covered by either has been forwarded to a committee for modifications.All in all the exercise was an astounding success, not only from the aspect of realism but also from the discovery of several weak areas should the crisis ever happen for real in the future.