Airport Manager Wants To Conduct Disaster Drill

The manager of the Upper Cumberland Regional Airport wants to see a disaster drill take place sometime this year.

Dean Selby said the event would prepare emergency responders for a potential plane crash or other major incidents.

“As we’re seeing increased traffic, I think it would be appropriate to kind of reset some of our emergency plans,” Selby said. “Although we have a good emergency plan in place, it would be nice to really practice it.”

Selby pitched the idea of holding a disaster drill during a Tuesday evening airport board meeting. He said the airport has not conducted a large-scale disaster drill since he became manager nearly three years ago.

“We’ve had a couple instances where we’ve had to have the fire department come out for different issues,” Selby said. “We’ve found some issues about staging that probably needed to be corrected, so I think it’s time.”

The Cookeville, Putnam County, Sparta, and White County governments co-own the airport. Selby said he would work with emergency officials from each entity and begin planning for a future drill.