5A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 2018 Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Cars piled up with mock victims inside provide a realistic experience for first responders during a mass casualty drill. Drilling down By COLIN MURPHEY The Daily Astorian W hen it came time for Astoria High School student Emily Herndon to put together her senior project, she decided to do something that could mean the difference between life and death. Herndon is a volunteer firefighter with the Lewis and Clark Volunteer Fire Department, so she designed Firefighters with the Lewis and Clark Volunteer Fire Department transport a mock victim to a wait- ing ambulance during the exercise. and organized a mass casualty training exercise. First responders from Lewis and Clark and War- renton participated in the drill, which involved three vehicles and nearly a dozen mock victims. Fire- fighters practiced removing victims from pulverized cars, even cutting the roof off one to extricate the passengers. Herndon said she was motivated by a desire to have multiple local departments trained in how to coordi- nate the response to a mass casualty event. ‘Victims’ pretending to be pinned in the vehicles presented a challenge to extrication efforts by firefighters. Volunteers wear makeup with fake blood and prosthetics to enhance the realism of the drill. Emily Herndon, right, comforts a young person playing the role of a victim of a vehicle crash during a train- ing exercise she designed and organized. First responders treat one of the ‘victims’ of last week- end’s mass casualty training exercise.