First responders from the Bismarck Fire Protection District and Vermilion County Sheriff’s Department were on hand at Bismarck-Henning Rossville-Alvin High School Tuesday morning to remind students to be careful during the upcoming prom and graduation season, and to not take their lives for granted. In the high school parking lot the after effects of a two-car accident were portrayed; with a drunk driver, one person who dies, one person taken away in an ambulance, and a critically injured person who needs to be airlifted by helicopter.
As Bismarck Assistant Fire Chief Devin Heinrichs explained to us, with the student body watching; the message was that both the guilty party and the innocent party suffer in these horrible situations.
Audio PlayerAUDIO: No one’s invincible to this. It can happen to anyone at anytime. It doesn’t matter if you’re the responsible one or the irresponsible one. This is real life.
Another part of showing real life was the wait for the helicopter to arrive.
Audio PlayerAUDIO: Unfortunately, where we are; it does take 15 to 20 or 25 minutes for the helicopter to get here. Letting them sit through that time that it takes for the helicopter to get to our area gives them that real life perspective.
And some big time perspective came from Bismarck-Henning-Rossville-Alvin student actors who portrayed the victims. The first responders had worked with the school to find students to play these roles. They wore microphones. And as Heinrichs pointed out, they had to set the scene with their voices until the first responders arrived. Nothing was recorded ahead of time.
First Responders speak with Coroner Jane McFadden, upon her arrival at the staged accident scene.
Audio PlayerAUDIO: The talk back and forth, before any other responders came on scene, was real life that they portrayed.
Also participating was Vermilion County Coroner Jane McFadden, who arrived on the scene and spoke with the first responders; as if it were a real life situation.
