There’ll be smoke, injured passengers, flashing lights and sirens at Kerikeri Airport on Tuesday the 7th Novemeber, but it’s just part of an Airport Emergency Plan (AEP).
Volunteer actors, alongside real-life emergency services, will play out a simulated aircraft incident scenario today from 10am to 11.30am as part of a test-run of the airport’s inter-agency response to a real-life emergency.
As the owner and operator of the airport, Far North Holdings Ltd (FNHL) is responsible for running the biannual exercise.
Chief executive Andy Nock said safety was of utmost importance to the organisation and that AEP exercises – along with other safety management practices and procedures – meant the airport was as prepared as it could be for an emergency.
“This is really about testing the bigger emergency framework and ensuring our onsite airport rescue fire crew has a ready and robust response within the first three minutes of an incident occurring.”
Kaikohe St John medics tend to Kaikohe actor Willi Henley at an earlier emergency exercise at Kerikeri Airport.
“Each emergency service will respond differently and in accordance with their individual emergency response plans. We know that it usually takes around 15 minutes for external agencies to arrive on site, so our on-site rescue fire service helps to bridge that gap before assisting as part of any ongoing inter-agency response.”
Nock forewarned any passengers turning up early for their flight on Tuesday could expect to see the scene playing out and not to be alarmed by emergency vehicles, flashing lights and mock fires. People could also expect to potentially see volunteer actors looking injured or pretending to be passengers, also acting within the terminal.
The exercise will test all aspects of the AEP and agency tactical plans/frameworks relating to a crash scenario.
Link to recent article in the Northern Advocate here.