A Simulated Emergency Test was performed Sunday in order to test the responses of county-wide agencies. The drill included a mock airplane crash at Warren E. Eaton Airport in Norwich and a coinciding test included a chemical spill at Kerry Bioscience. The following news article covers the simulated drill, and is not an account of a factual emergency crisis.

NORWICH – County-wide emergency personnel responded to a multi-scene crisis Sunday, involving first a plane crash and secondly a bio-hazard leak at Norwich’s Kerry Bioscience facility leaving one dead and seven injured.
The call, placed by airport employee Robert Stevens, rang into the local 911 emergency center just after noon and within minutes the Norwich Fire Department began arriving to assist with transportation and to see to the aircraft, which had begun to leak fuel from its wing.
The scenario played was part of a training operation for fire departments, hazardous material teams and other emergency crews county-wide; to test the vulnerability of the county’s resources.
“The concept, born in October of 2007, was to develop an emergency drill and involve as much of the community and community resources as possible,” said Emergency Simulation Coordinator and Director of Tactical and Strategic Intervention Services (TASIS ), Robert Benton, who directed the drill.
 By the time a second emergency call rang out for a chemical leak at Kerry Bio, locate on state Rt. 320, multiple-aid units from Sherburne and Oxford were already on the runway helping transport victims to Chenango Memorial Hospital (CMH), while crews assessed the aircraft’s condition and safety.
Benton, who had a command post headquarted at the airport as well as a crew of people assisting with the drill, said the idea was to test and evaluate the capabilities of the emergency crews. “This drill isn’t like what they have done in the past, not only will they have one crisis, but crews will be responding to another one including a bio-chemical leak,” he said.
By 12:40 p.m., the Norwich Volunteer Fire Department first responders, who were originally directed to the airport had been re-directed to Kerry Bio to respond to a chemical spill that could be hazardous.
The volunteers, upon arriving at the scene, secured the area and immediately called in the county haz-mat team for further investigation.
The area in the back of the facility was immediately blocked off, and no one was allowed to enter near the spill. Standing post at the gate were Chenango County Sheriff deputies.
“Exact determination is still being assessed, no one is allowed to enter the area,” said Deputy Gerald Parry. He also explained that the wind had picked up and changed direction after the fire department’s arrival, posing a greater concern for the general public.
The two sites were simulated as related incidents. It was determined a wheel shaft from the aircraft had fallen, hitting the Kerry site and leading to the chemical leakage.
“The starboard (right) landing gear, weighing 250 pounds, malfunctioned leading to the aircraft losing capability to land properly. The landing gear, falling off at Kerry Bio, hit a large plastic-like drum of Hydrochloric acid causing it to leak into the air, and the occupied Citation Jet skid across the runway, the wing was damaged and began to leak fuel,” explained Benton.
Norwich Volunteer Firefighter Captain, Brett Rice said the site at Kerry Bio was a learning experience for everyone involved. “You have to be prepared for anything,” he said.
The crew of volunteers said they are not equipped to handle such a leak, and their first priority would be to secure the site for the haz-mat teams, and once secured, they would vacate the area. “We are not a haz-mat team,” said Rice. “As first responders, we would come in and secure the area until the proper authorities arrived.”
Within a short time, haz-mat personnel was able to 90 percent identify what they believed, was the chemical involved in the spill and a plan of action was put into place. “In a normal situation, an area of approximately a half mile would have to be evacuated,” said Rice.
As a follow up, the emergency teams will be evaluated and cross-examined by county and state agencies. On hand overseeing the drill was New York state Emergency Management workers, EmComm (emergency communications) incident response team personnel, the Sheriff’s department, various fire departments from throughout the county, the state police, the City of Norwich police and fire chief and other emergency agencies. A complete evaluation will appear in a later edition of The Evening Sun.