Things Go Swimmingly in Sea Disaster Drill

Donna Stefferud practiced her shrieking and touched up her lacerations. With powdered-on bruises and synthetic blood running down her face, she made a perfect victim--and that’s the way she wanted it.

Stefferud was among 134 people who volunteered to play a casualty Wednesday in a simulated disaster in Newport Harbor, the first of its kind in Orange County.

The scenario: The tugboat Independence with 134 passengers explodes, testing the response of the Coast Guard, Harbor Patrol, fire, police and three dozen other agencies. The goal was to ensure that in an emergency, no hospital would get more casualties than it could handle.

“It’s a big team effort that has to be very well orchestrated,” said Georgene Groover of Orange Coast Medical Center.

The simulation began at 8:55 a.m., signaled by three horn blasts from the Independence, followed by smoke bombs.

Passengers screamed for help from the rails of the ship, some falling overboard. Rescuers loaded gurneys onto the Independence and administered triage. Once they had separated those who needed immediate attention from those with minor injuries, the trips to 11 hospitals from Lido Island could begin.

All of the wounded had been transported in an hour and 46 minutes, well within the two-hour window that Capt. Randy Scheerer of the Newport Beach Fire and Marine Department had expected. In a real emergency, Scheerer said, the rescue would take about twice as long.