HOLLAND, Mich. — A large-scale exercise brought together emergency teams from all around Ottawa County— to train for an event they all hope never happens in West Michigan.
"I've never done this to this scale," Holland Police Sergeant Caleb Dullock said.
The Holland Department of Public Safety, Ottawa County Emergency Management and the Ottawa Medical Control Board Authority hosted a mass casualty exercise at Windmill Island Wednesday evening.
"When you're inundated with that many screams and that much yelling, it's really just trying to prioritize," Dullock said.
Windmill Island was closed to the public Wednesday for the training exercise.
"What we did here today is a simulation for our mass casualty incident, our MCI protocol," Ottawa Medical Control Board Authority EMS Systems Administrator Rich Szczepank told FOX 17.
Crews responded to a scenario in which a driver— for an unknown reason— drives a truck into a crowd of people.
"There were like seven critical patients, a couple of fatalities and then ten or so moderate to minor injuries," Szczepank explained.
First responders were asked use their previous training to handle all the victims, being played by volunteer actors.
"Every time you accomplish a task, you're looking for the next one," Dullock said.
Dullock was one of the first to arrive at the simulation.
"Just try to prioritize what's most important at this very moment and do that," Dullock said.
Szczepanek was also there— guiding people like Dullock on how to respond best.
"If the responders had missed something, or if they forgot something, these guys could say, 'what about this' and just kind of give them a reminder," Szczepank explained.
Szczepanek says this training comes after an event where a man intentionally drove his SUV into a Christmas parade in Wisconsin back in 2021.
"We're trying to simulate the injuries. And our actors really put their all into this. And these are things that you're going to see," Szczepank said.
Dullock says he's looking forward to more exercises like this one.
"The entire police department should work more closely with the fire department to practice the incident command in unified command. They have a lot of knowledge in their discipline. We have a lot of knowledge and to come together and work together," Dullock added.
Officials say they plan on having similar training like this next year and the following year.
Here are some tips from the National Safety Council if you find yourself in a mass causality.
