Buffalo Airport Emergency Drill Looks Real

It looked pretty real – but it was all a drill to test how well the airport’s emergency responders react to a real emergency situation. It happened Saturday with firefighters working with a real plane and volunteers acting as passengers and crew aboard a plane arriving at the airport with smoke in the cockpit. The airport has one of 50 planes that were donated by Fed-Ex specifically for emergency drills.

When I was a teenager I just happened to come across an emergency preparedness drill in a field off Cayuga Rd. in Cheektowaga directly across from the airport.  The problem was I didn't know it was a drill.  I heard "victims" screams coming from the field asking for help so I couldn't help going into the field to help.  It looked so real with severe burns, compound fractures, bloody gashes. 

I did what I could directing first responders to the "victims" I found.  It was almost too much.  I left without ever realizing it was a drill until I read about later.  I guess I was pretty dumb back then.