Betsy Greene was among more than 96 people in stage makeup portraying injured passengers during a full‑scale disaster preparedness exercise at the Santa Barbara Airport on Tuesday.
“I’ve done a lot of disaster drills,” Greene said.
The drill was a coordinated exercise involving airport staff, TSA, police, fire, EMS, paramedics, and other mutual‑aid agencies, giving first responders a chance to practice real‑world response tactics with hands‑on experience.
“We’re practicing how to respond to a large‑scale disaster where there are a lot of moving parts,” said Santa Barbara Airport Operations Manager Mike Smith.
All commercial airports are required to run a full‑scale mock drill like this every three years, according to Smith.
September is Emergency Preparedness Month, and EMS Director V