Plane crash simulation held as part of Greenbrier Valley Airport disaster drill

LEWISBURG, W.Va. (WVVA) - On Thursday, the Greenbrier Valley Airport held a comprehensive disaster drill.

Airport Director Martha Livesay says this type of exercise is held every three years and explains that the goal is to simulate response procedures followed by first responders in the event of a plane crash.

“We need to prepare for disasters that may happen in the future. This helps us be on top of everything in the event, God forbid, that we would have one,” Livesay shared. “We’re certainly hoping that never happens here, but in the event that we did have something happen, we feel that this would much better prepare us...”

Local firefighters and EMS participated in this year’s event, and even some Greenbrier County high school students were able to help out by acting as injured passengers.

“I think it’s important to really like to get a gauge on how people are going to react for the first responders out here to really help try to understand how to better correlate with everybody’s needs out there,” shared one of the volunteers from Greenbrier East High School, Chloe Hill. “My friend is over there pretending to be dead, so I have to envision her being dead and running from the EMTs.”

In addition to Hill, roughly 50 other volunteers were present for Wednesday’s drill. One “injured passenger” was even flown out by helicopter.

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