Emergency exercise with the South Bend International Airport

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The South Bend International Airport partnered with emergency crews and volunteers to simulate emergency exercises on Thursday.

Airports are required by the FAA to simulate these emergency exercises every three years to test response times in the case of a real emergency unfolding.

Even though these emergencies are rare, officials say these tests are very important.

“It’s very, very important to prepare. Anything that’s high risk, low frequency you need to prepare for and you need to train because it doesn’t happen all the time, which is good. However, it still can and it still will at times and we need to prepare for it as best we can, and this full-scale exercise is a very good way to do that,” said Mike Ornat, Chief of the Department of Public Safety.

Ornat adds that building and strengthening team work and coordination efforts through these exercises could be life-saving in the future.