Nellis holds MARE to prepare

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Siuta B. Ika
  • 99th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. --  Aug. 28, 1988, three Italian fighter jets collided during a performance at an air show at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. Seventy people died and more than 340 spectators suffered serious injuries during one of the worst air show disasters in history.

Nellis Air Force Base held a major accident response exercise, or MARE, here Oct. 28 to test how the installation would respond to a similar incident if it were to occur during the 2014 Nellis Open House.

During the MARE, first responders were called out to the Nellis AFB flight-line in response to a simulated aircraft crash that "killed" or "wounded" more than 25 people.

"Overall, I think the response went well," said Maj. Jennifer Cowie, 99th Air Base Wing Inspector General director of inspections. "With any exercise it's difficult to portray what a real scenario would look like and the chaos that would ensue following a major accident, but the response was effective."

Firefighters from the 99th Civil Engineer Squadron were the first to respond to put out the downed aircraft's simulated fire; members of the 99th Security Forces Squadron were on hand to help get injured spectators to safety and to control a raucous crowd that gathered near the crash site; first-response teams from the 99th Medical Group set up a triage site and transported injured spectators to medical treatment facilities both on and off base; and organizations from around the installation were put on standby and stood ready to respond if called upon.

Because of the responders' synergy, Master Sgt. Jeffrey Wyatt, 99th Air Base Wing Inspector General exercise planner, said he believes the base is ready to respond to a real-world crash if it were to occur here.

"Based off how we executed the exercise today and based on how the units responded, I believe that if there was an aircraft mishap during the open house, the installation would be able to respond effectively because of how our plans are written," Wyatt said.

Although holding the MARE was a requirement for the installation to host the upcoming open house, Cowie and Wyatt agreed that the exercise will benefit all involved participants well past the event, because of the extensive training Nellis Airmen receive both in the air and on the ground to mitigate the likelihood of an aircraft incident.

"Although we hope a scenario like this never comes to fruition, it can happen any time," Wyatt said. "Think about Red Flag, Green Flag, plus our primary mission here. Aircraft are flying all the time. Even though we are primarily focusing on the open house, being that this is such a busy air field, this could happen at any time."