A simulated electrical explosion and fire at the Piedmont College Swanson Center brought theater, mass communication, and nursing majors together to produce the 2021 disaster drill. This event, held annually, creates a mock disaster with victims, complications, emergency services, and all the chaos of a real-life disaster.
The 2020 disaster drill was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic when Piedmont College closed its campus. While the 2021 drill looked different, with all of the Piedmont students masked, the college’s theater department spared no effort to put on a convincing show.
The Swanson Center was filled with “smoke,” created by fog machines, making it impossible to see inside the building. Theater professor of pyrotechnics, Henry Johnson, set and operated pyrotechnics to simulate the electrical explosion that caused the event. Piedmont theater students created a set with debris entrapping students portraying victims and put together convincing injuries with special effects makeup.
This day serves as a training exercise for nursing students, mass communication students and local emergency services alike. As the nursing students work under pressure to save the lives of the students acting as victims, mass communication students are learning how to photograph and record real-world disasters. For emergency services, this is a day of practice and a time to share their wisdom with students who are learning the right way to handle emergencies in their field of study.
While Piedmont’s 2021 disaster drill is in the books, at least one more Northeast Georgia school will have its own this month. Truett McConnell University in Cleveland will hold its 2021 disaster drill this coming Wednesday, Mar. 31.
