Area fire departments train for the worst at Cherry Hill Mall
It was a chilling scene: An out-of-control van had barreled down a loading dock underneath the Cherry Hill Mall, smashing into a wall, exploding, and collapsing the floor above it.
The van lay on its side, the driver severely injured.
Civilians buried under broken slabs of concrete and twisted steel cried out for help.
Fortunately for them, the Cherry Hill Fire Department’s technical rescue and HAZ/MAT teams were on the scene almost immediately, soon joined by the Camden City Fire Department’s Rescue 1 and Ladder 3 divisions.
Some members of the units worked together to saw through the roof of the van and extract the driver, while others began tunneling through the concrete debris, following the sounds of victims’ screams. HAZ/MAT officers continuously tested the air, looking for signs of an explosive atmospheric condition and sending meter information to their colleagues outside of the wreckage at an impromptu field station, where officers were monitoring the data and prepared to warn the rescue teams of potential danger.
The various units worked together for three long days last week, drilling through concrete, extricating those in need of rescue, creating and stabilizing tunnels through the wreckage and lugging stretchers, oxygen tanks, heavy tools and machinery throughout the catastrophe scene. It was all part of an in-depth technical-rescue training operation made possible by administrators at the Cherry Hill Mall, who offered the vacant Strawbridge’s building to the CHFD to “play” in for a few months before the building’s scheduled demolition.
Crews from the Camden and Cherry Hill ladder companies and rescue teams used the first part of their time in the cavernous structure practicing fire evolution.
“We tested the methods that we would use if there was an internal fire in a large big-box store,” said CHFD Chief Robert Giorgio, who was on the scene daily. “It was important for me to observe the conditions they were generally operating under in order to determine what resources we’d need in the event of such a disaster.”
A few weeks ago, crews began setting up the collapsed-building scenario. They labored for weeks to set up the calamitous conditions, ensuring that they were both safe and challenging, Giorgio said.
The “call” came in around 10 a.m. on April 23, alerting the CHFD to the critical situation at the mall. At least a dozen fire trucks, HAZ/MAT and rescue vehicles descended on the scene and got to work.
The situation was set up in real time, with scattered CD recordings of screams played throughout the wreckage to guide the units as to where rescue efforts should be directed, said CHFD Battalion Chief Bill Stallfort, who organized and presided over the operation.
He noted that the exercise was not a test; rather, it was a training evolution and a learning experience for everyone involved. In addition to the two fire departments involved, the Philadelphia Police Department’s homeland security and bomb squad units visited the site to observe the exercise and look into the potential for sharing equipment and rescue-operation information with the CHFD, Giorgio said
Stallfort told The Sun that the training operation was a great opportunity for all the units involved to work together – much like they would if faced with a similar, real-life emergency on the scale of the staged one.
“It helps the various squads to get to know each other a lot better so, if they need to work together, they’ll be familiar with the best way to do that,” he said, noting that the CHFD has been increasingly looking for ways to mesh specialty units for technical rescues.
The large, multi-tiered building also provided the rare opportunity for the special teams members to experience just how labor-intensive such a large-scale endeavor is, Stallfort added, noting, “We’ve been able to see how we can enhance our rescue operations – it’s been a real eye-opener for everyone.
“You don’t get the chance to train like this very often, and we’ve never had a building of this size to do with as we will.”
Giorgio said the training was important because “the days of rushing into a situation like that are over due to the risk of first responders being injured in addition to the civilians in need of rescue. “It has become a trend over the years to take technical operations up to a new level of proficiency, and we’ll continue to look at ways to expand our scope of services.”
The chief also noted that the training exercise was an exciting opportunity to conduct hands-on tests of equipment that squad members rarely get to use as well as a way to make sure that their training and preparation for such operations were on target – “we were all on the lookout for failure points and ways to improve our efficiency so that we can have a successful operation when faced with this type of event,” Giorgio said.
To get into the site, the specialty unit members – laden with heavy equipment – had to crawl and climb through the tunnels they made, reinforcing them with 4x4 wood beams as they went along, and eventually stabilizing “victims” and pulling them through the narrow networks as well. As Stallfort stood next to this reporter, keeping a close eye on his units from the epicenter of the activity, he lowered his voice and said that a call would soon come in alerting squad members that there were two people trapped in a jammed elevator between the second and third floors of the building. “They don’t know it yet. For the last major exercise of the operation we’ll be lowering some men by rope through the elevator shafts to get to the last of the victims.
“It’s a long day for these guys,” he added, pointing out that those involved in the training had been at the disaster site since 9 a.m., wouldn’t finish until 9 p.m., and then would have to head back to their respective fire houses for a night shift.
As he watched his men lug wooden planks and power tools up through a tunnel built around an escalator, he said with a smile, “At the end of the day, we’ll probably let them just walk out the front door.”
