Las Vegas Valley airports keep plans in wings for various emergencies

Las Vegas Boulevard is unusual for many reasons, but among them is the presence of two major airports on the valley's best-known and busiest roads. In any major disaster, the airports would be involved.

The airport that is now McCarran International was originally on the outskirts of town. The town grew well past it and like so many other places, the airport now seems as if it's right in the middle of the city. The airport has grown, too, and in some ways it has become almost a city unto itself.

Rosemary Vassiliadis, deputy director, Clark County Department of Aviation and a member of the Nevada Homeland Security Commission, listed a number of emergency situations for which the airport must be prepared. These include aircraft or structural fires, criminal events, crowd control, power loss or the need to quarantine travelers in the event of a pandemic health issue. Natural threats, from earthquakes to high winds or lightning, also are a concern.

The airport has a basic emergency plan that was created to comply with Federal Aviation Administration guidelines, and the plan is periodically adjusted based on additional needs identified through daily operations or in emergency drills or exercises.

"We're constantly adapting," Vassiliadis said, "as well as anticipating ways to be ready for whatever challenges could arise."

Every three years, a full-scale exercise is conducted at McCarran, with participation from multiple state and federal entities. The next exercise is scheduled for the fall 2012.

The exercises are necessary because of the complexity and wide variety of emergencies the airport could be involved in and the wide variety of state and federal agencies that might be called in to cope with the tasks.

"Keep in mind that an event at a Las Vegas airport could have only a local impact or it could potentially have nationwide or even international ramifications," Vassiliadis said. "Good coordination is critical."

While any emergency severe enough to affect the power grid of the valley would affect the airport, too, the facility has emergency generators capable of handling emergency lighting and other basic safety features. Two backup systems would provide power to the control towers and terminal radar approach control facilities, referred to by the acronym TRACON. Vassiliadis added that the airport is working with NV Energy to link McCarran to multiple substations so there are redundant power connections to draw from at another site or sites should one substation go offline.

At the north end of Las Vegas Boulevard, Nellis Air Force Base deals with many of the challenges of handling live ordnance and military groups and equipment from many nations.

"There are some inherent risks in flying operations," said 2nd Lt. Ken Lustig, 99th Air Base Wing Public Affairs, "but Nellis Air Force Base has an obligation to be good stewards to the property and the land we have withdrawn for Air Force use."

Many of the operations on the base involve training, so perhaps it's no surprise that a variety of emergency scenarios have been discussed.

"We take preparedness very seriously here at Nellis Air Force Base," Lustig said. "We've got a comprehensive emergency response plan. Everything that could affect our installation or the surrounding area has been taken into consideration."

Like McCarran, the Air Force base has multiple major accident and major disaster response exercises. It also collaborates with multiple state and federal entities.

"Sometimes they're table-top exercises," Lustig said. "Sometimes they actually get down to the point where they have victims portrayed with Hollywood-type makeup effects."

Chances are that in a major valleywide emergency, the base's resources would be called into play.

"The Air Force has a lot of recent experience dealing with disasters," Lustig said. "We've had folks from here respond to (the earthquake in) Haiti. We've had folks respond to (Hurricane) Katrina. We've had folks here who have been through what the apocalypse would look like on a small scale."

Each November, the base opens its doors to the public for Aviation Nation, which includes a series of aerial displays and demonstrations. Lustig said there are no plans to alter that event in light of the accident at National Championship Air Races and Air Show in Reno.

"Right up front, I want to say our hearts and thoughts are going out to the victims and loved ones impacted by that tragedy," Lustig said. "There's a lot of difference between what happened in Reno and what is happening at Nellis Air Force Base. The crash in Reno happened during an air race, but what we do in November is an open-air demonstration or air show. An air race is an unscripted dynamic competition. An air show is a choreographed, highly rehearsed aerial demonstration."

The aircraft involved in Aviation Nation fly in what amounts to an invisible box that keeps the flyers well away from the observers, regardless of the actions they're performing.

Contact Sunrise/Whitney View reporter F. Andrew Taylor at ataylor@viewnews.com or 380-4532.