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Mock disaster in Edgerton aims to educate, entertain

EDGERTON — It's a beautiful spring Saturday in Edgerton.

A bus leaves Edgerton High School carrying the track team bound for a meet in Evansville, but the team won't make it to the competition.

As the bus turns onto IKI Drive, a truck crashes into the back of the bus. The truck spills its cargo of hazardous liquids, and wind spreads the contamination to the students on the bus.

Many students are injured, and the truck driver is trapped in the cab, non-responsive.

That's the set-up for a mock "mass-casualty demonstration" in Edgerton's Racetrack Park at 10 a.m. Saturday.

The exercise is meant as training for emergency response agencies and a fun educational experience for the general public, said Brian Demrow, Edgerton fire chief.

Onlookers can watch every aspect of the response, from students trapped in the bus to the decontamination effort to preparing victims for a helicopter flight.

Students from Edgerton High School's drama club will play the victims.

The Forward Army Surgical Team of Madison will join Edgerton police, fire and EMS officials in the exercise. Flight for Life and Edgerton Hospital and Health Services also will participate.

For Edgerton Hospital, the decontamination effort is more a public demonstration than a full-blown training exercise, said Karen Greene, hospital emergency management coordinator.

"It'll be more show and tell," she said. "We're hoping the public will get an idea of how the whole sequence works."

Attendees will get close looks at Blackhawk and Flight for Life helicopters and Edgerton EMS's new ambulance. Children can sit in a fire truck and scale a climbing wall.

"This is an excellent way to showcase our fire department and the new ambulance they got," Greene said.

Volunteers will sell food and drinks to raise money for Edgerton Hospital's planned new facility.

The event probably will go on rain or shine, Greene said.