UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Emergency response personnel from Penn State and municipalities throughout the Centre County area will participate in a triennial full-scale emergency response exercise at the State College Regional Airport from 6 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 30. Emergency response crews will begin staging equipment and personnel in and around the airport beginning at approximately 5:30 p.m.
The airport will be open and operating under a normal schedule during the exercise. The Federal Aviation Administration requires all commercial airports to conduct a full-scale airport emergency plan exercise once every three years. The general public traveling on nearby roadways may observe emergency vehicles, smoke and a controlled fire, and should not be alarmed.
The exercise will involve local police and fire departments, emergency medical services teams, airport traffic control tower personnel, and several other University, local, state, and federal government and community agencies. The State College Regional Airport’s on-site Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) crews will be joined by an aircraft rescue firefighting mobile unit from the 139Fire company, whose unit will be on site throughout the week to provide live fire training opportunities to ARFF and personnel from local fire departments.