Watch how first responders train for a full-scale emergency at Colorado’s ski areas
Cody Jones/Summit Daily News
First responders in the High Country must be prepared for anything.
From responding to a broken leg on the ski slopes to skiers being caught in an avalanche in the backcountry, first responders must feel confident in their ability to respond in any terrain, weather or scenario.
On Tuesday, Jan. 21, multiple agencies practiced their skills at Loveland Ski Area in a full-scale emergency response exercise. Taking place between Lift 6 and the Ptarmigan lift above Bennett’s Bowl, teams from Alpine Rescue, Clear Creek Fire Authority, the Clear Creek Sheriff’s Office, Flight for Life and Loveland Ski Area responded to a made-up scenario on the mountain.
“We have Clear Creek Fire Authority, Flight for Life, Alpine Search and Rescue and Loveland Ski Patrol — both dog teams and avalanche technicians,” Loveland ski patroller Dan Linden said.
In this particular fake scenario, six individuals were buried in the snow, resulting in injuries and trapped patients. The teams on the mountain then had the task of finding the patients, assessing them and transporting them to the ski patrol headquarters at Loveland Ski Area.
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With temperatures still in the single digits across much of the High Country, the emergency training was spearheaded by two helicopter landings on the mountain. Each landing allowed two Loveland ski patrollers to unload from the Flight for Life helicopter alongside one of its avalanche dogs.
“Quite frankly we like to train in the most difficult conditions we can,” Linden said. “… (An avalanche) is typically in that nasty weather, so the colder the better.”
Once on the ground, patrollers quickly put on their gear, skinned up the slope and began the process of finding patients. Otis and his handler, Brendan O’Connor, were some of the first people to find patients.
Otis specifically leaned on his avalanche dog training to sniff his way to patients that were buried high up in the mock-debris field. As the rescue mission continued to unfold, O’Connor and Otis were then aided by Linden and his avalanche dog, Bandit.
Using avalanche rescue technology like transceiver/beacons, probes and RECCO, ski patrollers gradually located more patients underneath the snow. In total, the emergency training teams found four training dummies and two live patients completely buried or partially buried in the snow.
As more patients were unburied in the debris field, crews from Alpine Rescue, Loveland Ski Patrol and Clear Creek’s conglomerate of agencies were called in to assist in the situation. Skiing off the Ptarmigan Lift, these teams came in and quickly worked to stabilize the patients and load them onto sleds for transport to the base of the mountain.
It was while first responders were working to load a training dummy onto a sled that the group was able to practice using the Lund University Cardiopulmonary Assist System [LUCAS] device, which provides mechanical chest compressions.
Once the training dummy was properly loaded onto the sled, a first responder stopped his chest compressions and turned on the LUCAS machine, which administered the life-saving maneuver while the patient was transported to the base.
The final leg of the training asked first responders to get information from the group of patients to determine if there were still patients in the snow field. While asking one of the patients questions, first responders were able to discern that a sixth and final individual was still stuck in the snow field somewhere.
First responders then probed the area for the individual and eventually found the final dummy.
With so much variability in Colorado’s snowpack, the training exercise displayed that first responders are equipped and ready to respond to many emergency situations.
“So really what we are up here doing is trying to promote safety,” Linden said. “We want to show people that we are practicing at a really high level. In the event of an avalanche, all of our resources have practiced these skills, and we are prepared to play like it’s the real thing.”
Throughout the training exercise, first responders not only display their ability to work with other agencies, but also their ability to remain calm and confident as they responded to the complex emergency situation.
“I am thrilled with the performance of everyone on the scene,” Linden said. “… Everybody really executed the jobs they needed to do.”
This story is from SummitDaily.com
