As part of training for a potential disaster, a mock rescue was arranged. The scenario was a bus off the side of Meyers Road in the Tahoe Basin, having fallen 200 feet. It came complete with forty injured (volunteers from the California Conservation Corps). The injured, ranging from mild to serious condition, wore tags to show what their injuries were.
The smallest, realistic details were included, such as staggering response times from the various responding agencies, the injured being sprawled on the rocks around the bus, and one injured being air-lifted out. Although fun was had, everyone remained focused on the incident and all units received excellent marks by the evaluators.
More than a hundred people were involved in 9 months of preparation and then the acting out of this drill. Agencies included El Dorado County Office of Emergency Services (OES) and SAR, Fallon Naval Air Station, Calstar, the California Department of Forestry (CDF), the Lake Valley Fire District, the South Lake Tahoe Fire Department, five fire protection districts, Lake Tahoe ambulance, Careflight, and Barton Hospital.
"Even though we're all from different agencies, we might as well take our patches off when we're all working and getting the job done together." - Scott Stewart
A commitment to partnership does not happen accidentally or easily. True partnership is a matter of emotional and intellectual covenants. Partners work to strengthen the organization (situation) more than their own department (agency or unit). Partners come together, enrolled in a higher purpose. Partners seek to share, not hide, their resources. - Excerpt from the essay on partnership by Leo Denise