Mercer County Conducts Full-Scale Emergency Drill For Airport

MERCER COUNTY, NJ — Aviation and government representatives, and more than a dozen agencies recently took part in Trenton-Mercer Airport’s mostly virtual, full-scale emergency exercise. County Executive Brian M. Hughes said the drill has left Mercer County better prepared for a real emergency, .

“It was essential to keep participants safe in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, while also meeting Federal Aviation Administration requirements. This was an innovative and exciting way to accomplish those things,” Hughes said.

The drill, held on Nov. 19 took place mostly via Zoom video conference and partly on the Trenton-Mercer Airport (TTN) airfield rather than as a full in-person exercise.

A full-scale exercise is mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration to be held once every three years to measure the level of preparedness of first responders and to allow the agencies that will respond to a true emergency to train together in a single venue.

“Every agency at every level, from the local fire department to the FBI, has to be on the same page should a major disaster occur in Mercer County,” Hughes said.

“That requires taking a regional approach to preparedness, coordination and response, which is what was done for this exercise.”

Led by Airport Manager Melinda Montgomery, A.A.E, representatives of various agencies and offices participated in the handling of the “incident,” which for the purpose of this exercise was the simulation of a commercial aircraft overshooting the end of a runway upon landing at TTN, resulting in reported injuries. The non-virtual part of the exercise was the immediate response to the scene by firefighting units, law enforcement and emergency medical services (EMS).

The remainder of the exercise took place in two Zoom meeting rooms, the first of which established a command post involving the TTN fire department and other firefighting units, EMS, Mercer County Sheriff’s Office and other law enforcement and security agencies, airport operations and aviation organizations.

Command post participants handled aspects of the simulation such as response, access to the scene, airport closures, scene security, resource coordination, HazMat containment, recovery and restoration.

The second Zoom meeting was held 30 minutes after the first, and established and emergency operations center (EOC) and joint information center (JIC), which were combined for this exercise. Participants included Mercer County Office of Emergency Management (OEM), Mercer County administration, Mercer County public information officer, airport manager, fire, EMS, law enforcement, air carrier and aviation organizations. EOC and JIC participants handled aspects of the simulation such as information sharing, creating a unified message for the media, air carrier response, aviation investigation/release, establishing a location for media to gather, accommodating friends and family, and meeting passenger needs.

Active participants and observers could jump between the command post and EOC/JIC Zoom meetings throughout the event, which took about 90 minutes.

Airport staff and other participants in the exercise will now evaluate the response and use information gained to improve or revise, if necessary, the Airport Emergency Plan and emergency procedures.

Here are the agencies that participated in the emergency exercise:

Aviation

• Frontier Airlines
• Federal Aviation Administration-Flight Standards Office
• NJDOT-Division of Aeronautics
• TTN Air Traffic Control Tower
• TTN Airport Administration

Mercer County

• Top county officials
• Office of Emergency Management
• Public information officer

Law Enforcement

• Department of Homeland Security
• FBI-Trenton Field Office
• Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office
• Mercer County Sheriff’s Office
• New Jersey State Police-Office of Emergency Management
• New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness
• Transportation Security Administration

Fire/EMS

• Capital Health Emergency Services
• Ewing Township EMS
• Ewing Township Fire Department
• Mercer County Fire Coordinators
• NJ Division of Fire
• Prospect Heights Fire Company (Ewing)
• Trenton-Mercer Airport Fire Department
• West Trenton Fire Company