THE BIG DRILL: Mock crisis tests first responders at Toronto Pearson Airport in Mississauga

Toronto Pearson Airport in Mississauga will be a much busier place than usual late Saturday night into Sunday morning — and if you’re anywhere in the vicinity, you’ll notice scores of emergency responders doing their thing.

Loud sirens, fire trucks racing to a prepared “disaster scene,” police securing the area and paramedics working to save lives that aren’t really in danger are all potentially part of the lineup as Canada’s biggest and busiest airport conducts its annual full-scale emergency exercise.

In addition, some 200 volunteers will also be part of the mock disaster mix as the large-scale, federally mandated training session runs its course from around 11 p.m. Saturday night until the early hours of Sunday morning, Pearson officials say.

They add the major training exercise, mandated by Transport Canada, “is a critical component of Toronto Pearson’s emergency preparedness efforts and has been conducted annually since 1991.

“It is designed to test emergency response capabilities across the airport community involving airport staff, first responders, airline and agency partners, and about 200 volunteers.”

The annual training exercise is part of Pearson’s Operational Continuity and Emergency Management Program.

“This critical training tests our procedures for responding to emergency and security incidents. Through these exercises, Toronto Pearson maintains readiness for emergency situations while meeting regulatory requirements,” airport officials said in an earlier news release.

Whatever the mock emergency — whether an aircraft hijacking, a large plane that’s skidded off the runway and crashed or an incoming jet that’s ill-equipped to land for whatever reason — all those taking part treat it just like the real thing, airport officials said earlier.

In total, some 300 people will take part in the big drill — the 200 volunteers in addition to first responders and other participants. And the training exercise can appear quite real to Pearson travellers and others going about their business at and near the airport.

Airport officials said in advance of previous emergency training sessions that “throughout the exercise, passengers and people in the airport area can expect to see volunteers, emergency vehicles, airport equipment and personnel on airport approach roads, in Terminal 1 and 3 and airside. Theatrical effects may be visible and audible.”

Participants in the annual exercise include airport employees, airline representatives and responders from organizations including Transport Canada, Peel Regional Police, Peel Regional Paramedic Services, the Canadian Air Transport Security Agency, NAV Canada and the Fire and Emergency Services Training Institute.

The latter, known in airport circles as FESTI, is a private firefighting college located on Courtneypark Drive East in Mississauga, just steps from Pearson.

FESTI is also part of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority’s fire department, Pearson officials note. The emergency training organization has three fire stations and its own fire chief.

The GTAA runs Pearson airport.

Several months ago, on Feb. 17, Pearson and first responders dealt with a real emergency when a Delta Air Lines aircraft inbound from Minneapolis crash landed at the airport.

Nobody on board the plane was killed and cause of the crash remains under investigation.

Nearly two decades ago, on Aug. 2, 2005, Air France Flight 358 landed at Pearson in heavy rain and, unable to stop in time, overshot the runway and crashed into the Etobicoke Creek ravine.

Miraculously, emergency responders and others said at the time, all 309 passengers and crew aboard the Airbus lived to tell the story of the near-disastrous afternoon landing.

(Cover photo: Toronto Pearson Airport X)