The other day I was reading JEMS it had a storie about how to make
Table Top drills more fun a guy is useing Model RR things to make a town/city
then sets it up and then he gives the firefighters, EMT’s Police, the drill
by using the Model RR things the group can see what is going on and have toys/models to use for the drill
I think any of you with a model RR in your home or are with a model RR club
should consider haveing your local Emergency persons over and have you stage an Emergency on your layout. It’s a lot of fun playing and learning at the same time and to see how they respond to the Emergency and going through
all the what if’s you may give to them to work out in your drill.
Gee and I thought I was just haveing some fun when I would have 1 of my trains hit a car at a crossing or when the train derails pushing the model fire/EMS, and police units to the scene I didn’t know I can learn from it too.
Just something to think about [;)]
John Murphy, FF/NREMT-I
Sturgis Fire and Emergency Services
Sturgis, SD
That sounds like a good idea; instead of just having EMS/ Firefighters work with the models, you would reach a broader audience by having your county emergency services coordinator use it.
A fellow from the Albany, NY area was doing that over 20 years ago (I have pictures, but they are quite dark). George Proper carried around (in old air pack cases) enough buildings, and HO equipment, to cover 8-10 banquet tables. He laid out the locale on newsprint taped to the tables, with several fire departments (urban and rural), and the railroad. George has passed on, but the tabletop village at the NY State Fire Academy in Montour Falls is dedicated to him.
We have a small tabletop village at our county fire academy, but it doesn’t include an operating model railroad. We can (and do) run hazmat scenarios on it, but use trucks.
When I was young I would build villages for my Matchbox cars. The play often involved some sort of fire incident, as I had an interest then, too. When my son was young and into Matchbox, I build a small tabletop village for him, too…
While employed with Servicemaster at the Irving oil refinery I saw their fire
fighting squad respond to fires as units hit by lightning ect and on training exercises.
I was always tense as either one had a sense of greater danger as worked away in
in a command centre they call Satellites.
Larry,
That sounds cool,when I was in high school and had an HO scale layout, I had an
operating housefire scene on part of the layout (not the commercially available
one) but one that I had fixed up.
As far as being firefighter/EMT, an ambulance accident at an intersection, by some-
one who didn’t see or hear us, is the reason I am now on disability.
I am a deputy sheriff. We just completed constriction of our new Sheriff’s office, jail, and communication center in one building. It is one mile out of the city so its set in a rural setting. I am in the process of modeling our building for my HO layout, quite challenging and fun!
Models always seem to get more interested. I know for me if you want me to learn something, show me a model. I am currently in training to become a FireFighter for Rockwood, WI. I think I might mention something about using a model for a demonstration of a drill. I have a layout and it relates to the area around my hometown so it would work perfectly!