NYC tests lifesaving technology in emergency hurricane response drill

WILLOWBROOK, Staten Island (PIX11)-- This month marks 12 years since Superstorm Sandy devastated the tri-state region, taking more than 230 lives. 

However, technology has advanced in ways that are proving to be lifesaving. Some of those lifesaving technologies were on display and in action at an exercise on Tuesday on a scale never before seen. 

The hurricane emergency drill's many strengths were evident, but its participants also pointed out shortcomings that were important to help identify where improvements need to be made going forward. 

The exercise was at what used to be the Seaview Children's Hospital, a facility that had sat empty for decades. Its broken windows and neglected appearance were a good stand-in for a place that had been significantly damaged by a hurricane. 

In the exercise scenario, people are supposed to be trapped inside the hospital, in places unreachable by first responders on foot. 

"We wouldn't want to risk people's lives actually going into that building," said José Rolon, the director of the entire emergency exercise. 

He said that one tool that was in use during the drill is highly effective in reaching trapped victims. 

"The breaching drone," Rolon said, "is to get into areas that we have no other way that we can access."

He was referring to a drone equipped with a tool that can pierce and break glass. The NYPD aircraft is designed to shatter barriers, especially windows. In its exercise, it succeeded in breaching a double-paned window and entering the building. 

Rolon has spent the past six months coordinating Tuesday's hurricane emergency drill, which included the New York City Emergency Management Department, the FDNY, and the NYPD.

 All three departments deployed drones for rescue and recovery. 

"We decided that we would be the first ones to do something of this scale," he said, noting that the exercise is the largest of its kind anywhere. 

The three departments put a half-dozen drones in action in two different places. The first was the old Seaview Children's Hospital building, where mannequins heated to human body temperatures were placed in hard-to-reach spaces inside, and drones were sent in. 

On board, the entering drones were cameras with heat sensing and other capabilities that enabled them to find potential victims. 

Two miles south of the hospital building is Fox Beach, also called Oakwood Beach. There, drones were deployed in a joint operation to search for storm victims. 

The people on the beach were actors portraying storm victims. The deployed drones found them.

The whole effort was designed to imitate devastating conditions that occur right after a significant storm moves out of the area. 

Being prepared for such a scenario was the intention. As Zach Iscol, the commissioner of NYC Emergency Management, said, part of that preparation is an expectation that things could go wrong. 

"We don't expect everything to go perfectly," Iscol said before the drill began. "That's part of the reason we do these exercises." 

Kaz Daughtry, the NYPD deputy commissioner for operations, agreed. He said that while the exercise is detailed, it's by its nature not precise. 

"This is practice," he said in an interview, "and practice makes perfect." 

The main exception to the exercise's flawless execution was that, at times, the WiFi and cellular communications at both emergency drill sites were strained.  

The issue has recently been seen in western North Carolina following record flooding and mudslides from Hurricane Helene. 

It's a genuine concern in an emergency, and the Staten Island exercise, according to its coordinator, found a workaround. 

"Each of the agencies provides their own WiFi," said Rollins, "but as a backup, we're providing WiFi for the entire location at both spots."

As the largest exercise of its kind ever, Tuesday's training is now a textbook case, literally. Its organizers said its findings will be incorporated into all emergency management studies nationwide and will also influence decisions in future trainings by New York City first responders.