Mass Casualty Drill

Expectedly...Unexpectedly. We had our annual MCI (Mass
Casualty Incident) Drill this morning at 0830. On a
Monday morning??? Bill, the NSF Station Manager has a
habit of keeping everyone guessing about when the drill
is going to be and having them at times that are not
always the best. However, if we actually had a real
MCI, I'm sure it wouldn't be at a convenient time then
either so it makes sense. Today's incident was a fire
at the BFC (Berg Field Center) and at the Science Cargo
building. These are two of the oldest buildings on
Station and have very little if any fire suppression
systems built into the infrastructure. The part I play
during an event, imaginary or real, is to keep a timeline
of events that happen in the EOC (Emergency Operations
Center). Oh...I make coffee too. Yep...high pressure.
Since we've had two actual events this season (The Hagglund
Rollover and the Smurf Shack Fire) this drill for me was
pretty much more of the same and not stressful at all.
However it was stressful for the Medical folks who along
with all of the volunteers performing other medical tasks
that had to take care of the four victims. If this had been
a real emergency, two of the people were going to have to
be airlifted in the next few days. Meanwhile, the rest of
the station would be thinking about all of the fresh fruit
and vegetables on their way south and placing Amazon.com
orders. What??? Is that wrong??? Anyway, the entire
drill went off without too many hitches. There are always
a few and we talked about those in a debriefing later in
the day. Now that we're all trained with all of these
skills, I hope we don't have to use them for real.
to

Irony...

Here's the timeline...
Last week, I post a blog entry entitled:


"Just Smurfy!"




This morning at 0730, my boss holds a monthly
All RPSC/NANA Safety Meeting in the Galley, and
the topic is: "Death and Destruction in Antarctica",
focusing specifically on the fires many years ago
that destroyed the Chapel and the old Vehicle
Maintenance Facility. Some great video footage
of historic fire tragedies that took place before
most of us had even heard of McMurdo. The focus
of the meeting was to keep people aware that
disasters can happen here and that we should
always be prepared for them.


This morning at approximately 1023, I'm sitting
at my desk working on a report when I hear over
the scanner that "THE SMURF SHACK IS ON FIRE".
I think two or three of us in the office simultan-
eously said "Oh Crap!" and moments later I was
racing down to Building 165 to perform my duties
at the EOC (Emergency Operations Center). The
reasons are still unknown what caused the fire as
the closest people to the Shack were miles away,
in town at the time it is thought to have begun.
Almost 500 gallons of fuel used to heat the shack
were lost and the flames were easily seen from
town, over a dozen miles away. We've asked Don
if we can have our next Safety Meeting cover the
possibilities of having everyone on station win the
Lotto since he seems to have some kind of precogniscent
ability to forcast upcoming events!

Just Smurfy!

Remember the Smurfs? They were those creepy little
guys back in the early 80's. I could never
understand their popularity, let alone why there was
only one old Smurf and only one girl Smurf and all
these other "young" smurfs that all looked alike
except one had glases... Yeah, those guys. Anyway,
there's a Smurf here at McMurdo and it's called the
"Smurf Shack" or "Smurf Hut" depending on who you're
talking to and in what context. Anyway, this is the
"Old" Smurf Shack and it's used primarily as a warming
hut for folks working out at Pegasus. It even has
skis on it so it can be towed around when needed. A
newer version went out on the South Pole Traverse
this year. Right now it's the only light you can see
outside of town for miles and miles away. It's
kind of spooky looking out there and knowing that no
one is there and that little shack is kind alone...
except for one old man Smurf and one girl Smurf,
making little...wait...just my imagination running
away from me again. Why is it called the Smurf Shack
you ask??? Because it's blue...that's why! Duh!