Kilingi-Nõmme school tests response to simulated drone attack

Kilingi-Nõmme Gymnasium held a large-scale crisis exercise to test its response to a simulated drone attack, ERR reported. The scenario was designed to be more realistic and unexpected than a routine fire drill.

In the exercise, a drone flew into the school’s foyer and exploded. Students were evacuated, and the rescue service and ambulance crews arrived within minutes. Injured students and a teacher were trapped in a third-floor classroom.

Rescuers had to work out how to bring them downstairs. Using a ladder truck was considered too dangerous, while thick smoke filled the corridor. Medics were brought into the classroom to carry out rapid triage.

About 20 people played casualties. Students wore injury makeup and acted out their roles. Twelfth-grader Aaron said his class had been hit by the drone and that he had facial injuries. He described the exercise as exciting.

Another student, Lissa, said her scenario involved a leg wound from shrapnel. She thought the rescuers were slow, saying she should probably have been dead by then.

School defence studies teacher Arvi said he was satisfied with the rescue work and that similar situations had been rehearsed before. Exercise organiser Harri Kramm, the school’s facilities manager, said there was always more to learn and analyse, and that he considered the exercise successful.

The school organised the drill because the threat from drones remains a concern. It wanted to test whether its crisis plan would hold up in a realistic situation, rather than only on paper or in a standard fire drill.