At 9:53 a.m., February 6, 1992, a Kentucky Air National Guard C-
130B military transport plane crashed at the site of a hotel and restaurant
complex while performing routine pilot proficiency exercises at Evansville
Dress Regional Airport. The crash and resulting fire killed all five aircrew
members and 11 civilians on the ground -nine in the hotel and two in the
adjacent restaurant. In addition to those who died at the scene, one of the
emergency responders, an Evansville Police officer, died February 24, as a
result of injuries he sustained working at the crash site. Emergency
responders from the City of Evansville, the Evansville Regional Airport,
and police, fire, and emergency medical service agencies across
Vanderburgh County responded to the disaster.
A similar incident involving an Indiana Air National Guard A-7D
attack aircraft occurred in October 1987 in Indianapolis. In that incident,
the aircraft struck a Ramada Inn hotel killing nine employees who were inside the building. The pilot safely ejected prior to impact. Like the
Indianapolis incident, the crash in Evansville occurred in mid-morning
during a routine training mission. Both incidents also involved Air
National Guard aircraft. However, the similarities do not end there.
In both cases, well designed, constructed, and maintained buildings
minimized fire spread, structural damage, and most likely the loss of
human life. Clearly, investments in built-in fire protection pay off, even in
such unforeseen events as aircraft crashes outside the building, or literally
into the side of the building, as was the case in Indianapolis.
In addition to the building performance, the effectiveness of
emergency responders in controlling these incidents and coordinating
massive response efforts demonstrated the value of training, planning, and
preparedness. The use of incident command systems in each case
significantly aided coordination, and in Evansville helped provide for a
smooth transfer of authority to disaster management and later to military
officials, which clearly expedited investigation and recovery efforts.
Communication among emergency responders is viewed as critical at
any emergency scene, but in both of these cases communication with the
public was viewed as equally important; public information activities were
an integral part of the disaster response. In Evansville, media briefings
were used to direct family members and concerned citizens away from the
accident site to a community center staffed by local clergy and counselors,
where they could obtain information about deaths and injuries.
The Evansville incident provides an opportunity to study the
behavior of building occupants in response to a highly unusual and virtually
unforeseeable event and to learn how individuals coped with the unusual
and confusing circumstances which confronted them. The factors of human
response to fire situations are often overlooked in the development of
codes, standards, and regulations that are intended to provide public safety.
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