RAPID CITY, SD – Preparing for an emergency they hope will never happen.

On Wednesday, dozens of emergency vehicles responded to mock crash victims as part of Federal Aviation Administration required full-scale triennial training exercises held at Rapid City Regional Airport.

During the training, 150 emergency personnel and volunteers acted out a real-life accident and response scenarios to review the implementation of Rapid City Regional Airport’s emergency plan.

During the training, emergency personnel practiced response, medical triage services, and law enforcement responses.

“It’s important to simulate the injuries and stress,” Brian Bishop, Deputy Director, Rapid City Regional Airport said. “We want to make this as realistic as possible. That’s why we bring so many people from different organizations together to practice and make this as real as possible.”

Organizations represented at the training included Rapid City Regional Airport, Rapid City fire and police departments, State Fire, Ellsworth Air Force Base, the Salvation Army, Sheriff’s office, regional volunteer fire departments, Rapid Valley Fire Department, Monument Health, the airlines, and volunteers that serve as mock victims.

“The triennial itself is more about training not just the fire department but all of our surrounding agencies,” said Neill Goodart, Rapid City Fire Department, Aircraft Rescue Firefighting (ARFF) Battalion Chief.

Goodart said the responding agencies as well as the maintenance staff, the operations staff at the airport, and administrative staff, were all crucial during an emergency.

“The triennial gives us an opportunity to practice getting large amounts of resources on and off the airport,” he said. “It gives us an opportunity to allow our medical staff to triage large groups of people and practice how well we can get those people transported into the hospital all while coordinating the safety of the airport.”

The once every three-year training took place Wednesday evening west of the main terminal.