Sint Maarten. SXM Airport Emergency Evacuation Drill on Friday

SXM Airport Managing Director Regina LaBega (L) and Manager of Operations Michel Hyman (2nd L) outside of airport building during previous evacuation drill. (SXM photo)

SIMPSON BAY, St. Maarten (thursday, June 12, 2014)—The Princess Juliana International Airport Operating Company N.V. (PJIAE) in compliance with its Fire Safety and Evacuation Plan, will be holding an emergency evacuation drill of the terminal building for the entire SXM Airport community on Friday morning, June 13, 2014.

The objective of the drill is to familiarize the staff and users of the airport with the required procedures on how to efficiently evacuate the terminal building in response to an emergency in and surrounding the terminal building.

Normal airport operations will be affected for the duration of the evacuation drill. During the drill, every person inside the terminal building will be forced to evacuate. No one will be allowed to enter the terminal building for the duration of the evacuation drill.

Building evacuation procedures are a vital part of SXM’s fire safety and evacuation plan. Evacuation drills are held to familiarize occupants with drill procedures and to make the drill a matter of established routine. Because well‐marked exits alone do not ensure safety of lives during a building fire or emergency evacuation, drills are needed so that occupants will know how to make an efficient and orderly escape.

According to Michel Hyman, Operations Manager at SXM, the evacuation drill is “to ensure that SXM departments, tenants and operators at the airport operate to the highest level of fire safety in all areas and are aware of evacuation procedures.”

Prior to this, SXM had held information sessions with the occupants of its facilities and the entire airport community to educate them about evacuation procedures, practice building evacuation processes and Emergency Assembly Point coordination and to practice staff accountability procedures. These sessions were mandatory, Manilo Penijn, Manager of the Rescue and Fire Fighting Department said.

He said these drills have been held since 2011 to “simulate the immediate response and evacuation procedures that we would use for any type of emergencies in and surrounding the terminal building.”

Penijn called on the general public to kindly take note of this evacuation drill and not panic.