Ulster County agencies identify communication, victim-tracking gaps after July mass‑casualty drill

Ulster County emergency management officials told the legislature’s Law Enforcement and Public Safety Committee on Sept. 3 that a July 12 full‑scale mass‑casualty exercise at the Headless Horseman property in the town of Esopus and a concurrent surge exercise at Health Alliance Hospital met many objectives but revealed several operational gaps.

Deputy Director Mike Madison of the county Department of Emergency Management, who led the exercise, said the drill involved about 125 participants across police, fire, EMS, hospital and public‑health agencies and that “between all participating agencies, we had 28 objectives” to test. The scenario simulated a small airplane crashing into a campground, igniting tents and vehicles and producing multiple casualties requiring extrication, triage and transport to hospitals.

The exercise’s nut graf: the county used a realistic, cross‑jurisdictional scenario to test on‑scene triage and patient movement, the Incident Command System, and Health Alliance’s ability to surge emergency‑department capacity as part of its internal certification process.

Madison told the committee the drill delivered several clear successes: responders rapidly recognized the incident as a mass casualty and activated Ulster County’s MCI protocols; triage and patient prioritization were performed in the field; transportation to the hospital was coordinated; and the county and participating agencies demonstrated an organized incident command structure.

But the exercise also surfaced operational weaknesses. Officials reported problems with radio interoperability—some agencies did not have the correct frequencies—which county emergency services and the sheriff’s interoperability team are addressing. Heat exposure among firefighters and EMS personnel in turnout gear required monitoring and intermittent removal from hot zones. Organizers also found inconsistencies in casualty collection points and shortcomings in victim tracking when some simulated victims moved toward the command post and were not immediately tracked.

Madison said extrication procedures and related gear handling would receive additional training after responders experienced fatigue during vehicle rescues. New York State Homeland Security provided a moulage team to make simulated injuries realistic and New York counties including Columbia, Dutchess and others participated as evaluators and mutual‑aid partners to better simulate a large event.

Health Alliance Hospital participated because the exercise was tied to its internal “gray book” surge‑capacity certification process; Madison said the hospital needed a realistic surge exercise to meet that certification requirement.

Emergency Management Director Erickson provided monthly operational figures to the panel and announced county training plans: he reported roughly 6,053 9‑1‑1 calls in the prior month, 4,532 administrative calls, 20 Text‑to‑9‑1‑1 incidents, 2,496 EMS responses, 1,832 fire calls and 4,754 police calls. Erickson said Ulster County will begin an EMT class on Oct. 1 sponsored by the county; the class reached 16 registrations within two hours of announcement and is capped at 24 students.

Committee members praised the exercise and its realism. Madison said the county intends to run one large‑scale MCI exercise each year and that planning for the next full‑scale drill is already under way. He and Erickson said after‑action work will focus on radio programming, victim‑tracking improvements, heat‑stress mitigation for responders and enhanced extrication training.

Officials noted recent out‑of‑county mass‑casualty incidents, including bus crashes, as further reason to maintain annual large‑scale preparedness exercises.

Looking ahead, the county plans after‑action reports and targeted training to address the identified gaps and to refine the incident‑command and victim‑tracking systems tested in July.