Scott works with community for air show safety Published Aug. 6, 2009 By Col. Gary Goldstone 375th Airlift Wing Commander SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- Last week 40 members of the 375th Airlift Wing team met with 25 first responders--fire, police, rescue, medical--from the Greater Scott communities to review response plans for our upcoming air show set for Sept. 19-20. We spent two hours discussing various scenarios and our response procedures for situations such as a lost child, a medical emergency, civic disturbance or aircraft accident. It is very clear that we have top notch experts on our team as we prepare for this major event. I'd like to thank our community partners for attending and for helping us ensure your safety as we prepare for and execute an event that hosts about 70,000 people on our base each day. One thing I'd like to stress is that if there is an emergency, we need to call 9-1-1. We are working with St. Clair County to operate a flightline-based operations center for emergencies and our calls will be forwarded there during the air show. So for those working, or those attending, that's the number to call, and we'll be notified immediately of where to respond. We have a commitment from our community partners for on-site law enforcement support from the Metro-East Emergency Response Team, and we're glad to be working with them again. Even with their help, we will still be asking for our base volunteers to help with other important tasks our security forces personnel would normally provide such as parking, driving directions, etc. We need all the teamwork we can muster for this event, so I appreciate those of you who will volunteer for this duty. The local fire stations are also providing additional vehicles and staffing to facilitate an instant response anywhere on the airfield, and we'll have no smoking and safety patrols roaming throughout the crowds to ensure that we maintain a family-friendly environment so everyone can enjoy the air show. We will have a large medical contingent on-hand available to treat minor injuries or conditions such as dehydration or just a place to cool down should the temperatures be hot those days. We should have fairly pleasant weather with the show being held later in September, but, you never really know what the weather will do! The professional medical teams will also be out and about in the crowds and on standby should we need a much larger response. This same team plans to come together once more later in August as we conduct a Major Accident Response Exercise, which will have us walk through and perform the procedures that we've outlined and talked about so we are prepared for any type of challenge. We'll continue to test our ability to communicate with each other using 800-megahertz radios that the County and Team Scott recently acquired. These highly capable radios allow users to reach agencies across the Metro-East and even as far as Chicago with one press of the button, and are used for any incident requiring Team Scott and community first responders to speak to each other and within their various agencies as well. We do this so we can ensure your safety as you enjoy the Canadian Forces Snowbirds, the WWII Heritage Flyers, the pyrotechnics of "Tora Tora Tora," the parachute skills of the Army Golden Knights and another 15 aircraft demonstrations flying overhead. We are looking forward to a great show, and sincerely appreciate our community partners who are helping us to keep it safe while we all enjoy an exciting demonstration of American Air Power!