[Scan-DC] I-66 Bus Wreck

[Steve Thompson]

Just a few comments on that big bus wreck on I-66 late last week.....

I was actually able to monitor virtually all of this incident, at one 
point using two scanners (one on VSP and the other on Fairfax Fire).

It left me convinced that if you really, really need to get into a 
multiple bus wreck, Fairfax County is a great place to do it.  Talk 
about organized!:

The first I heard about it was when MedNet was alerting the 
hospitals, which almost instantly reported their ER 
availabilities.  Only THEN did I hear a fleet of EMS units being 
dispatched by Fire Rescue.  That's right--the hospitals were 
organizing before the big EMS call-out.

VSP was on the scene very quickly and blocked all of the appropriate 
ramps.  They had so many units on the scene and at the ramps that 
there wasn't much to do for the Fairfax motor units who got there later.

The rest of it worked more smoothly than most of the drills I've 
monitored.  The patients were tagged to indicate their level of 
injury.  A friend who is an ER nurse told me that they were also 
tagged to show which hospital they were going to.  The hospitals were 
told by radio what to expect, using the color codes on the tags.  An 
ambulance bus was brought in, although I'm not sure that it was 
used.  Multiple radio channels were used for specific functions and 
the on-scene commander made a decision to divert some of the injured 
to Fairfax Hospital rather than Fair Oaks, even though Fair Oaks was 
reporting additional capacity.  He just wanted to spread the load.

Spare EMS units were dispatched directly to the hospitals to assist 
with triage.  Later, in Vienna, I spotted a "Mass Casualty Support 
Unit" (a heavy-duty box truck) returning from the scene.  These guys 
were ready for anything.

I heard no screw-ups and no snags.  It all went by the book.  It's a 
testimony to the professionalism of Fairfax Fire and Rescue, no doubt 
aided by the fact that none of the injuries were serious.

Steve, N4TX