While standing in a field to set off a smoke canister, alarms were being set off at 15 Wing Moose Jaw as they were testing their crews to see how well they can respond to a plane crash. The emergency response training Tuesday morning was focused on an offsite crash, using the Moose Jaw Municipal Airport as the setting. Usually, 15 Wing will have these exercises south of the base, but to test their crews a little differently, they moved it to a new location.

At first, things went slowly, as the smoke canister, which was used to simulate a downed aircraft, was set off. It wasn't until one of 15 Wing's planes started to circle that things got a little more interesting. Once a plane goes down, 15 Wing will send out one of their own planes to find the wreckage and if the pilots ejected, where they landed.

The plane spotted the canister and relayed the information and coordinates back to the command centre, who will then dispatch their team while also calling 9-1-1 to get local fire and paramedics involved. STARS air ambulance will also be put on alert since a plane crash will likely involve serious injuries in a remote location.

15 Wing Public Affairs Officer Captain Jennifer Halliwell says the end goal is to find issues with their response plan.

"The most important thing that we want to take away from this is how to not only respond better but also what went well. You have to learn from these scenarios so that we can get better and respond better to these types of scenarios. The quicker we can respond, the better we can respond, the higher likelihood that our guys can come away better."