More than 50 first responders got to test the practices and procedures required if they were called to an emergency scene that included mass casualties.

They were able to do so without the stress of dealing with victims truly in pain and distress as Scouts and parents from Emmaus and Macungie volunteered to be “victims” in a simulated accident between a bus and a car along Quarry Road in Lower Macungie Township, near the Lower Macungie Community Park.

The exercise, planned and coordinated by Paramedic Andrew Miller, special operations coordinator for Macungie Ambulance Corps, involved medical personnel from seven area ambulance corps, Lower Macungie and Alburtis fire, rescue and fire police personnel and observers from Lehigh Valley Hospital, Cetronia and Macungie Ambulance Corps and other first-response agencies.

The initial dispatch from the Lehigh County 911 Center, sounded just before 7 p.m. April 20, announced a motor vehicle accident involving a bus and a car with a large number of victims and was punctuated with multiple “this is a drill” pronouncements.

Rapidly responding to the scene were fire and rescue units, and fire police from Lower Macungie and Alburtis fire departments. Multiple ambulances and EMTs from Macungie Ambulance Corps responded, and additional medical personnel and ambulance units were dispatched from Cetronia Ambulance Corps, Bally, Emmaus, Topton, Upper Saucon and Allentown City.

Personnel with vests identifying them as triage, treatment and transport specialists fanned out across the scene organizing classification of the injuries, treating those who required immediate attention and stabilizing others for ambulance transport to Lehigh Valley Hospital’s Cedar Crest campus emergency room.

About a dozen and a half Scouts and parents from Troop 25, Emmaus, and Troop 71, Macungie, were pre-staged as victims on the bus provided by Bieber Tourways, of Kutztown.

A junk car was delivered on a rollback truck by Faust Towing, of Upper Macungie Township, and arriving rescue personnel from Alburtis Fire Department used hydraulic jaws of life and cutting tools to force open doors and remove the roof of the vehicle to facilitate removal of the “victim,” in actuality a dummy dressed as a clown who has served in the role for numerous training sessions.

Alburtis police officer Chris Lubenetski assisted at the scene as law enforcement officer.

At a post drill critique, held as darkness fell at the scene, Miller solicited lessons-learned from each of the specialty managers and thanked all first responders for participating.

“These drills help us to be better prepared if we are ever faced with a similar real-life emergency,” Miller said. “The drills help us to see what we’re doing right and any areas where we could do better. They are an especially valuable tool to help us serve our communities with the best emergency response practices.”

Miller said he especially appreciated the cooperation of Lower Macungie Township officials. “We had to partially shut down busy Quarry Road near a community park that was hosting several sporting events at the time. Township cooperation and effective traffic control by fire police personnel helped everything go pretty smoothly.”

The arrival of 30 pizzas from Penn Pizza, in the Lower Macungie Walmart shopping center, was a welcome end of the exercise for the Scouts and first responders.