Lockheed L-1011 TriStar 1, A Delta Airlines flight 191, always flew between Fort Lauderdale and Los Angeles with a scheduled stop at Dallas. In 1985, the flight was affected by bad weather while in the air along the Texas-Louisiana gulf coast. The plane crew opted to change their route but were overwhelmed by the heavy winds until they lost control and eventually crashed. The response team dispatched to the scene of the crash acted swiftly and managed to salvage many passengers.
All the fire and emergency response teams at the airport received alerts one minute after the crash. A few seconds after the notice, three fire trucks dispatched from station three at the airport arrived at the accident scene to put out the fire. More units from stations one and three came within five minutes after the alert. Although there were high winds and heavy rains, the fire was contained under ten minutes after the responders’ dispatch.
Paramedics arrived at the scene and established triage stations immediately. The ambulance medical team estimated that half of the surviving passengers could have died if there was no on-scene triage procedure. Most of the survivors were located in the rear smoking zone, which was disengaged from the fuselage before the plane collided with the water tanks. The injured passengers from the aircraft were admitted to Parkland Memorial Hospital. The passengers boarding seats 34 forward to the cockpit were fatally fragmented during the impact and fire, and eight perished. The survivors disclosed that the explosion broke out in the cabin before it struck the tanks and spread to the rest of the plane. Some passengers could not save themselves from the fire because of the severe injuries and had to be extricated by the rescue teams.