Mass casualty / active shooter drill held in South Lake Tahoe

South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue (SLTFR) held a mass casualty/active shooter drive Thursday at their training center on Rufus Allen Blvd.

Since first responders don't want to use a real event to test their skills, drills of these types are crucial to their being prepared.

Tahoe Douglas Fire, Lake Valley Fire, California Highway Patrol, Care Flight/Remsa, Cal-Star, Cal-Tahoe JPA, South Tahoe Action Team, the FBI and South Lake Tahoe Police Department all joined SLTFR and 22 volunteers in the drills.

Volunteers of all ages played the "victims" and had full "wounds" created with special make-up called moulage.

The "shooter," played by Matt George of the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office, "shot" up the training center with people inside. There was a full response by participants to put down the shooter and respond to the wounded. "Victims were pulled out of the building and sorted by severity of their injuries.

Two medical helicopters circled above as if they were going to land and transport the more seriously wounded. If it were a real situation, four-to-five helicopters would have responded from other communities to take victims out.

Captain Kim George spent the last three months putting all the necessary pieces together to organize the event.