On Tuesday August 8, 2006, Mass Casualty Support Unit (MCSU) 5 was delivered to the station. The unit is one of several units purchased through an Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) grant for the National Capital Region (NCR) and one of two Level II – MCSU’s in Prince George’s County. The second unit is planned to be located at Laurel Rescue Squad, Station 49. A Level II MCSU is designed to support the treatment of approximately 50 patients.
As a Level II MCSU, it will be dispatched on Mass Casualty Incidents (MCI) in Prince George’s County including commuter bus accidents, passenger train derailments, building collapses, etc. In addition, the unit can be dispatched mutual aide to any jurisdiction in the NCR including Northern Virginia, Washington, DC, Montgomery County and Frederick County.
The unit is equipped with mass casualty supplies that can be used to operate triage and treatment areas. Everything is color code in accordance with patient priority protocols (RED- Priority 1, YELLOW- Priority 2, GREEN – Priority 3 and BLACK – Priority 4).
In addition to these two new units, the Prince George’s County Fire / EMS Department has ordered a Mass Casualty Bus Ambulance. At this point, it has not been determined where this unit will be housed.
Crews are conducting driver’s training and mass casualty SOP training. It is currently scheduled to be placed in service on Friday, September 1, 2006 at 0700 hours.