Tyler Pounds Field hosts emergency training drill

TYLER – Tyler Pounds Field Regional Airport Thursday was the site full-scale emergency response training exercise. According to our news partner KETK, the drill simulated a crash of a commercial aircraft and a bus. First responders from state and local agencies, airport personnel and more that forty actors from UT Tyler participated in the event. It’s been three years since the last training of this type at the Tyler airport.

David Admire Jr., Tyler Fire Department Battalion Chief said, “Every time we do this it seems like the communication and the command system gets better between the agencies. We have to train all the time, and you don’t have time to sit and think what do I need to do, you have to react. Something like this shows off the training we have to go through.”

The exercise took years to plan, and the full-scale drill put everyone to the test. After the drill, officials discussed getting together more often than every three years to make sure they’re ready in case of an emergency.