Local first responders’ role in Wednesday’s CAFB plane crash

LOWNDES and MONROE COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Wednesday’s crash of a T-38C Talon II from Columbus Air Force Base, is now classified as a recovery mission.

While the event was still an emergency situation, first responders from the local level, all the way up to the federal level, flooded the scene.

Responding to emergencies is second nature for first responders.

Training prepares them for any situation, including plane crashes.

How they responded to the scene on Wednesday, however is different from other emergencies.

When the Columbus Air Force Base T-38C slammed into the ground, Master Sgt. Kevin Forrester got the call, and responded to his second plane crash, in a 24 1/2 year law enforcement career.

He says responding to a scene like this is different, than responding to a car crash.

A plane crash can happen anywhere, and that can make finding the scene difficult.

“Someone is usually ahead of you or just behind you, so it then becomes, give me the closest road that I can find and I contacted 911 and all they could get the information out was, it was a gravel road, near the Base, just north of it, where there was a cemetery.”

It ended up on Barton Ferry Road, right next to the base’s perimeter fence.

Situations like this usually mean “all hands on deck.”

“Even though, we may be in a specialized field of narcotics, or criminal investigation, or something, we all play an active role. Whether it’s there on the scene or something. Our criminal investigation division said, ‘you’ve got enough bodies there at the scene. We’ll handle all of the routine calls from 911.'”

Since the crash was on the Lowndes and Monroe County border, responders from Monroe also came to assist.

EMA Director Bunky Goza has seen this sight several times in his career.

“You kind of prepare yourself mentally of what you’re going to see and stuff like that, but the key to it, is you rely on your training and your professionalism, no matter if you’re a volunteer firefighter, volunteer law enforcement, or a professional. You still have your training you rely on.”

First responders say the district training that EMA’s do together throughout the year, pays off when something like this happens.

“What we have with our emergency management is they will have mock scenarios from time to time, and then after that, they will get at a round table and discuss where were we lacking, where can we improve, and where did we do good.”

Once the scene is secured, roads blocked, and everybody is safe and slows down, the investigation begins.

“Columbus Air Force Base, what those guys do is a phenomenal job with educating our responders, but it’s pretty much their scene, where a commercial is pretty much our scene. With a military aircraft, we’re either there to hold the scene, do what we got to do to take care of things, until they get there and when they are there, it’s theirs.”

Forrester and Goza both say if you see or come in contact with T-38 debris from Wednesday, don’t touch it and either call 911 or the base to let them know.