Dealing with disaster

Students had to save a casualty from a burning plane as part of a dramatic mock rescue.

First year BSc (Hons) Disaster Management and BEng (Hons) Civil Engineering with Disaster Management students were given a lesson in the harsh realities of plane crashes when they took part in an aviation disaster awareness day.

The event, at the International Fire Training Centre, within Durham Tees Valley Airport, saw 11 students enter a burning plane to carry out a rescue operation.

It followed a similar event a week earlier which involved 10 second year students from the same courses completing an urban search and rescue awareness day at the Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service.

Steve Wilks, Senior Lecturer in Safety, Disaster and Risk Management, said both days were a huge success which gave students vital hands on experience.

Creating order from chaos The aim of the aviation disaster awareness day was to introduce the group to the realities of aviation disasters, how they can affect individuals, communities and the people who have to deal with them.

Specific objectives were to allow students to:

• understand the nature of aviation accidents
• develop an appreciation of how they are dealt with
• observe aviation firefighters in realistic disaster training scenarios
• experience the working environment of the firefighter by taking part in an exercise, wearing full firefighting kit and breathing apparatus.

Steve said: ‘The day was designed to enable individuals and the group to gain hands on experience of just what it takes to begin to extract order from chaos at the commencement of a serious incident.

'The training centre delivered our requirements excellently and from this some profound experiential learning has taken place.’

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