SOUDAN — The scene was a parent’s worst nightmare. Two cars blocked an intersection, both with significant damage. A half dozen teens, some in prom dresses, two unresponsive, one severely injured, and two trapped and injured in the rear of a minivan. A teenager, obviously intoxicated, was being led away by the local police. A 12-year old in the front seat of the second vehicle had large glass shards in her face with the driver slumped over the wheel, not breathing.
Luckily, the scenario was not real, but a planned exercise, bringing together area law enforcement, ambulance services, and fire departments, along with a group of area teens from Vermilion Country School (and one teacher), as well as the local police chief’s preteen daughter, who all played parts in the accident. Local makeup artist Val Turnbull lent her skills to the mock crash, applying realistic makeup and other special effects to the “victims” of the crash. Mather’s Towing provided the previously smashed vehicles and then hauled them away after the reenactment.
Students and some other community members came to watch the event last Friday, seeing what is involved in responding to such a tragedy.
While the event was staged as an educational reminder for area teens, it was also a learning experience for area first responders.
“This was an amazing event for us as first responders,” said Jen McDonough, the interim Tower Ambulance Supervisor. “We don’t get a chance to see or work together with other departments off a real accident scene.”
McDonough said the event was a chance to pick up tips from other responding departments.
“It was really interesting to see the different levels of training,” she said. “We all learned some new things.”
The sprint medic officer from the Virginia Fire Department was on scene, and while mostly an observer, he was talking through scenarios with the ambulance crew.
The Tower department had one responder who was brand new to the job, and this was a great chance for them to meet other emergency workers and get some “on-scene” training, McDonough said.
McDonough, who has four sons and one still in high school, said it was also a chance to see an accident scene from a teen’s perspective.
“We forget how it might look,” she said. “For us, it’s what we do.”
Talking with the teens afterwards, the first comments were on how loud the scene was.
“We don’t hear those sirens,” McDonough said. The teens also felt the chaos of the response scene.
“It was eye-opening for them,” she said.
The exercise hit a little close to home for Breitung Police Chief Dan Reing. His daughter, Lily, had asked to play a part, and she jumped at the chance to play a passenger who would need to be air-lifted from the scene. Lily was truly looking forward to a helicopter ride, even if it was just a takeoff and landing.
With fake glass shards sticking out of her cheek, Lily was conscious initially, expressing worry about the non-responsive “uncle” driving the car, but she soon stopped breathing. Reing, acting in his role as police chief, started pretending to perform CPR while others in the Tower Ambulance called for air support. The look on Reing’s face showed true pain as his young patient did not initially respond. Ambulance personnel transferred her to the ambulance cart and then quickly wheeled her into a waiting ambulance to provide medical care, keep her warm, and wait for the airlift. The medical transport helicopter that was planning to be part of the exercise ended up not arriving because it got called out for an actual emergency.
At the same time on scene, members of the Breitung, Tower, and Greenwood fire departments worked to extricate some of the injured teens trapped in the van, while reassuring the victims they would be helped soon. Firefighters safely smashed the rear window and then used the extrication equipment to cut out the rear door to safely remove the injured teen.
The injured teen in the front of the van was safely removed by other responders, who had to cram themselves into the vehicle to get them ready to safely transport. The “driver” of the van, as is seen in many real-life accidents, walked away with only a few scratches.
Others on scene covered the three “fatalities” with white sheets.
As some of the first responders cleared the scene, Reing and McDonough talked to the spectators, answering questions, and talking about what would happen “in real life” during a similar accident. It was also a chance to talk about careers as first responders.
Reing also will be doing a follow-up visit to students at Vermilion Country School, to give them a chance to ask more questions and talk about what they saw during the mock crash.
This is the second mock crash that Reing has worked with VCS students on. The first one was four years ago.
Reing said he started planning the mock crash late last fall, working with Steve Freshour, the Tower Fire Chief. The coordination between the local departments was part of the event’s success.
“This is a powerful message,” Reing said. “We are not bulletproof.”
The accident scene and response was filmed by a drone photographer for future educational training. The event was put on with help from area fire departments from Tower, Breitung, and Greenwood; Tower Ambulance; Ely Ambulance; Babbitt Ambulance, and Babbitt Police Department. Students from Vermilion Country School, Northeast Range, and Rock Ridge participated as actors.

Teen driving statistics
According to research from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the risk of motor vehicle crashes is higher among teens ages 16–19 than among any other age group. Teen drivers in this age group have a fatal crash rate almost three times as high as drivers ages 20 and older per mile driven.
Teens who are at especially high risk for motor vehicle crashes include:
• The motor vehicle crash death rate for male drivers ages 16–19 years was three times as high as the death rate for female drivers in the same age group in 2020.
• Teens driving with teen or young adult passengers.
• The presence of teen or young adult passengers increases the crash risk of unsupervised teen drivers. This risk increases with each additional teen or young adult passenger.
• Crash risk is particularly high during the first months of licensure. For example, data indicate that the crash rate per mile driven is about 1.5 times as high for 16-year-old drivers as it is for 18–19-year-old drivers.
• Drinking any amount of alcohol before driving increases crash risk among teen drivers. Teen drivers have a much higher risk of being involved in a crash than older drivers at the same blood alcohol concentration (BAC), even at BAC levels below the legal limit for adults.