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On April 17th, Abilene exhibited their skills and abilities to respond to a major emergency. The Emergency Management Division hosted a city-wide emergency preparedness exercise simulating an aircraft accident at the Abilene Regional Airport. The simulated scenario consisted of aircraft crash on the runway with the fuselage splitting apart. Forty passengers were placed in the fuselage with varying degrees of realistic injuries. They were rescued and transported to the hospitals using the City’s mass casualty plan.

This emergency prompted a community-wide response and involved the Airport, Abilene Fire Department, Abilene Police Department, and the Office of Emergency Management with resounding results. The Emergency Operations Center (EOC) was activated. More than 200 people participated in the exercise, including personnel from the City of Abilene, Hendrick Medical Center, Abilene Regional Medical Center, Taylor County, and ambulance service from Metrocare, Citizens, South Taylor, and Merkel.

The goal of the exercise was to train emergency responders to be prepared to handle an actual emergency at the airport, exercise EOC procedures, and exercise the mass casualty plan. The exercise tested procedures for fighting a fire at the airport, rescuing victims from the wreckage, and getting the injured to the hospital for care. Another objective for the exercise was to practice the city's Incident Command System for responding to and handling emergencies and disasters. 

To add to the realism of the exercise, Abilene Christian University and Cooper High ROTC played the victims. Moulage (the art of applying mock injuries for the purpose of training) was applied to the students with injuries ranging from non life-threatening injuries to amputations.

Click Here to see the Abilene Reporter-News Video of Exercise

The mission of Abilene’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) is to create, implement, and maintain a local community plan for managing major emergencies and disasters. The plan is consistent with and complements the comprehensive emergency management system for both Texas and the United States. Mission accomplishment will reduce the vulnerability of our citizens to injury and loss of life, and community to damage and loss of property. This can be done by providing a system for the mitigation of, preparation for, response to, and recovery from natural or man-made disasters, riots, terrorist activities, and / or hostile military or paramilitary actions.

The Mayor of each incorporated municipality and the County Judge of each county is designated as the Emergency Management Director for each such political subdivision.

As the Governor’s designated agents, the Mayor and County Judge may exercise the powers, on an appropriate local scale, granted the Governor by the Texas Disaster Act of 1975.

The Mayor and County Judge may designate an Emergency Management Coordinator (EMC) to serve as an assistant to the presiding officer of the political subdivision for emergency management purposes.

Political subdivisions may establish inter-jurisdictional agreements to manage and mutually benefit from local emergency management programs (Abilene & Taylor County, 1994)

Federal dollars routed through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and administered by DEM under the Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) are received locally (typically $40,000 annually) to help offset program costs.

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