Full Scale Mass Casualty Drill This Sunday in Monmouth County

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Emergency Medical and Fire Personnel from organizations in Atlantic Highlands, Monmouth County and the State of New Jersey will conduct a full-scale drill to test and assess the how they will respond to a mass-casualty incident aboard a passenger ferry arriving in the Atlantic Highlands Harbor.

Participants in the drill will include the Atlantic Highlands First Aid and Fire Departments, the New Jersey EMS Task Force, the Monmouth County HAZMAT team, The US Coast Guard, Riverview Medical Center, the American Red Cross, the Monmouth County Sheriff, MONOC, the Monmouth County Office of Emergency Management and others.

EMS personnel will respond to the harbor, HAZMAT technicians will decontaminate "passengers" who will then be treated for transport by area EMS responders. There will be helicopter landings will be sent to area hospitals using NorthStar and MONOC helicopters. More than a dozen ambulances, multiple EMS command vehicles, two helicopters, and upwards of 50 "patients" will be on hand for the drill.

WHO: Monmouth County EMS responders and agencies, Atlantic Highlands First Aid and Fire Departments, American Red Cross, Monmouth County Sheriff, New Jersey State Police, and Sea Streak Ferry officials and more.

WHAT: A full-scale drill reproducing conditions of an explosion aboard a commuter ferry and how first responders deal with such an incident.

WHERE: Atlantic Highlands Harbor, Simon Lake, Dr., Atlantic Highlands, NJ

WHEN: 9 a.m. Nov. 16, 2008

WHY: The Atlantic Highlands Harbor has been identified as a potential terrorist target and is identified as a drop-off point for victims being evacuated by ferry from New York City. The event will highlight a regional response to such an incident.

For more information about the plan, call AHFAS president Lou Marotta at (732) 291-8118 or at lucian123@aol.com.

This story was written by the Atlantic Highlands First Aid Squad on November 6, 2008.