Fire-fighting officials had their first emergency exercise at Suvarnabhumi Airport yesterday amid concerns about the new airport’s readiness for next Saturday’s inaugural flights with real passengers.

Emergency services at the new Suvarnab-humi Airport will carry out their first full-scale accident drill tomorrow using a Thai Airways jet and 150 staff from King Power Duty Free as the passengers.

"We want to make sure we have our plans in place prior to the first aeroplanes with real passengers landing at our airport," general manager Somchai Sawasdeepon said.

The Aerodrome Emergency Plan is to be finalised as part of an interim certification that the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) is expected to grant the airport very soon.

On May 15, Airports of Thailand (AoT) sent the DCA a 300-page draft plan for review prior to planning or conducting any tests. With the airport's September official opening date yet to be finalised, along with plans for low-cost airline testing next Saturday, there seemed to be plenty of time to review the plan.

Now they are cutting it pretty close.

Wing Commander Lakchai Chaloeyprat, director of the airport's fire-fighting and rescue division, said the plan will still require revision after the tests.

"We really need to look at the results of these exercises, make adjustments, then revise the plan before making it final," Lakchai said.

Yesterday his team conducted their first emergency fire-fighting simulations, even though some fire-fighters have been stationed at the airport since last September's inaugural flight for Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Anucha Mokawetch, director general of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office, expressed some concern about the rushed timeline.

"I only got a letter faxed to my office yesterday [Monday] inviting me to observe the fire-fighting exercise," he said, adding he had yet to receive a copy of the 300-page draft plan. "We will have to see how these drills go."

The DCA's Narong Aroonpak-mongkol said one of his chief recommendations was for the airport to set up a hotline for emergency communications and co-ordination of agencies, both inside and outside the airport.

Such inter-agency co-ordination is also a prime concern of Samut Prakan's provincial chief doctor, Dr Boonterm Tansurat. He said the province already had a well-designed emergency medical plan, but to have the world's 20th busiest airport added to his responsibility was a major task.

"It is important to know who is the boss for everybody to respond to an emergency effectively," the chief doctor said, adding his office had not received the full copy of the emergency plan.

"Maybe we will know more after the exercises, but I hope the Public Health Ministry will have sufficient authority to guide the medical response."

The present shuffling of emergency-response personnel between airports has frustrated some Don Muang Airport executives.

"Don't ask me what to do if we have an emergency too - go ask the politicians," said one Don Muang executive, who asked not to be named.

"If I stop my staff from going to Suvarnabhumi, I could be blamed for airport opening delays. But I make everybody sign out if they go to Suvarnabhumi, so I'm not responsible if any problems occur."

Fire-fighting director Lakchai added: "I'm wearing two hats here. I'm still having to be responsible for Don Muang. I work at Don Muang in the morning and come to the new airport in the afternoon."

Although there are only 10 days left in which to finalise a plan, Chaitawat Sivabavorn, Samut Prakan's head of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office, said the public need not be concerned.

"The airport has assured us that our response plan will be certified by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)," he said.

Lakchai, however, told The Nation that while the ICAO helped draft the emergency plan and was advising on its safety procedures, it will not be certifying any aspect of Suvarnabhumi's operations.

He said the emergency response at Suvarnabhumi will be far more sophisticated than at Don Muang.

"We have to prepare for the Airbus A380," said Lakchai. "We have 34 fire trucks as opposed to about 10 at Don Muang. Our emergency preparedness has been raised from category 9 [at Don Muang] to 10 in preparation for the new Airbus. We are in the highest category."

Nantiya Tangwisutijit

The Nation