Today the Solomons Volunteers participated in a large scale incident drill at Pax River Naval base with many mutual aide companies

"The initial dispatch was for smoke in the building, bringing a standard box alarm assignment. En route units were advised the caller stated they heard a loud boom, the building shook and now the building was filling with smoke. The caller also stated he was unable to exit the building as well. First arriving units were met with two aircraft that had had a mid-air collision with both of them on fire and one of them into a three story occupied barracks building. The first arriving officer called for our ARFF units to respond and a second alarm to be sounded. We simulated staggered arrival times for the units to make the incident more realistic than the entire assignment showing up at once."

"Crews operated on the drill for just over an hour, there were 13 total mannequins removed from the building and aircraft props. We also challenged crews by simulating that the aircraft took out portions of the buildings balconies so they would have to find other ways into those rooms. The crews had to perform numerous techniques to include line deployment, fire attack, search and rescue, forcible entry, wall breaches, ladder rescues, ventilation, mitigating a MAYDAY, and triage of the 13 victims."

The Solomons Volunteers would like to thank NDWFD for the invitation to participate in

**Pictures and Story courtesy of NDWFD Co.13**