UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Emergency personnel from Penn State and municipalities throughout the Centre County area will participate in a triennial full-scale emergency response exercise at the University Park Airport from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, May 26. 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 local, state and federal government and community agencies. The University Park Airport’s on-site Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) crews will be joined by an aircraft rescue firefighting mobile unit from the West Virginia University Fire Service Extension, whose unit will be on site throughout the week to provide training opportunities to ARFF and personnel from local fire departments.