The north side of the Almería fairgrounds was the scene this Thursday of a large-scale simulation of a collective emergency with more than 30 victims of different types caused by the explosion of an electrical transformer that generated a fire and the rupture of a pipe. Of gas. More than a hundred health workers and security personnel have participated in this comprehensive preparation and coordination test. activating an Emergency Plan at the Almería Fair as soon as the incident occurred with the aim of guaranteeing an effective response to possible incidents in large crowds of people. The drill that has tested the effectiveness of organizational structures, protective measures and procedures of the services involved has been directed by José Miguel Garrido, nurse at 061 and provincial coordinator of the Almería Emergency and Disaster Committee.
The drill carried out in the Arbol del Paraíso street area of the capital has tested the Emergency Plan from a comprehensive perspective of prevention and intervention with the participation of 93 health professionals, of which 45 participated as simulators, and 32 members of other security institutions such as Emergencies 112 Andalucía, the Provincial Civil Protection Service, Local Police, National Police and Civil Guard. The deployment led by the Almería Emergency Center 061 included the Primary Care emergency services of the districts of Almería and Poniente and the Northern Health Management Area, ambulances and transport of critical patients, the Red Cross and the faculties of Science of Health and Psychology of the University of Almería, in addition to mobilizing pre-hospital resources from the entire province with transfers to the hospitals of Torrecárdenas, HLA Mediterráneo and Vithas Almería.
The drill that has tested the effectiveness of organizational structures, protective measures and procedures led by the 061 Health Emergency Center that deployed an Advanced Post in the area of the incident, reinforced by the Red Cross with a center for family care and psychological support. About thirty victims spread around the fairgrounds with multiple contusions, multiple traumas, burns and head injuries were attended to by the deployed teams that worked side by side in this major tragedy based on safety criteria and maintaining calm, avoiding additional stress and following health intervention guidelines such as awareness and breathing of the injured, bleeding, burns and non-mobilization of traumatized patients.
In the initial triage, the procedures that should be applied to all victims were determined, with 3 deceased who were left in charge of the Scientific Police and the Court of Guard, eight who moved to Torrecárdenas, four to Vithas Almería and another four to HLA Mediterráneo. During the operation, three missing power plant workers were detected, forcing the deployment of the canine unit of the Civil Protection Search and Rescue Group. The simulation of a level 2 collective emergency that comes as close as possible to a real situation, in which a wheel has been launched to evacuate patients to the reference hospitals, It is part of the training of 061 professionals to improve its response capacity to accidents with multiple victims, in addition to evaluating its coordination with the rest of the actors involved. Last year, a similar drill was carried out at the fairgrounds in June with another explosion at the power plant that left 24 victims.
