'Operation Raging Winds' holds drill for hurricane preps

ORANGE BEACH, Ala. (WALA) - Operation 'Raging Winds'

Tuesday morning, a rescue worker dangled from a helicopter on a 100-foot line as it flew above Perdido Pass.

It was all for a training exercise, dubbed “Raging Winds.” It was designed to simulate the types of scenarios first responders may face in the aftermath of disaster.

Alabama Homeland Security agents, Marine Police, EMA workers, and State Troopers all took part in today’s operation.

Corporal Kent Smith with the Alabama State Troopers described the scenario, which had to be used in Hurricane Katrina.

He told us,“We’ve been hit by a hurricane and we have an island, surrounded by water, where we have debris and we can’t access by boat so the only way to access is by air.”

Smith continued, “We’re going to bring a helicopter with a 100-foot long line. We’re putting four personnel on the island and then we’ll also put a four-wheeler on the island using that long line so they search for any victims that may be injured or not injured. Then we’ll extract those victims via long line back to land.”

After the airborne rescue, a different scenario was played out. This time victims were in the water and the boat crews got involved in the action.

Practice makes perfect

The whole exercise was carefully orchestrated, because in the chaos of a real situation the rescuers need to know exactly what to do without thinking and act on the instincts instilled by their training.

“You’re only going to be as good as your weakest element and we exercise to find out where we’re weak," said Spencer Collier, Director of Alabama Homeland Security. "We don’t exercise to see where we’re strong.”

Collier said real-life training is the only way to truly test readiness.

“We want to operate at our maximum capabilities. We hope the call never comes but, when it does, we are as strong as we can possibly be,” Collier said.