July 22, 2026

MCI-What Is It? We’ve Had 3 of Them in Recent Weeks

PART ONE

By: Rick McCann
Blue RAM Media/Gulf Coast News

July 22, 2026

BALDWIN COUNTY, Ala. Have you ever heard of an MCI? Most folks haven’t, unless they’ve worked as a first responder somewhere along the way.

Recently in Baldwin County, numerous emergency agencies found themselves in the middle of two very different types of an “Mass Casualty Incident” that were in very different locations but had very similar scenarios.

A Mass Casualty Incident generally is any type of event where there are many people who have been wounded and need various levels of care.

The National Incident Management System (NIMS) sets guidelines as to how the incident should be managed, and who oversees complete control of the incident.

A mass casualty incident could be a large residential or commercial fire where many people have various types and degrees of burns or injuries, or it could be a train wreck or a multiple vehicle traffic collision on the interstate or any other type of incident where many people need immediate medical attention.

The current protocols of an MCI do not dictate the number of injured people that a scene must have to be considered a mass casualty incident but rather, it depends entirely on whether the number and severity of patients overwhelm the available local emergency and medical resources.

If a car wreck on an interstate in a rural part of state has six people injured but the community only has a small volunteer fire department and one volunteer ambulance, the local fire chief may classify it as an MCI and activate the area’s mutual-aid response system.
On the other hand, in a larger area, the same scenario would most likely be well within the capabilities of the local fire and EMS system and no outside assistance from other agencies would be needed.

Recently, Baldwin County experienced three Mass Casualty Incidents, one on the interstate, one on a major roadway and one on the water.

About a month ago, a multiple vehicle traffic collision on Interstate 10 in the Loxley area injured multiple people who had various degrees of injuries including several that were critical.
Multiple ambulances, fire departments, medical helicopters and law enforcement were needed to properly care for the patients, secure the vehicles from hazards such as fuel leaks and to ensure that they were stable during an extrication process.
This was updated during the emergency to a Mass Casualty Incident due to the number of ambulances needed from Medstar, the use of multiple helicopters needed to transport critical patients, the number of emergency responders from fire, EMS and law enforcement, and the mere size and scope of the incident.
This collision took several hours before the interstate completely be completely reopened.

A few weeks later, on Saturday, July 11th, 2026, another multiple vehicle traffic collision with numerous injuries of various degrees occurred in Spanish Fort around the area of 5200 Battleship Parkway.
According to police, approximately six to eight vehicles were involved in the wreck and numerous patients needing immediate medical treatment.
Once again, a Mass Casualty Incident with a structured command was established.
Multiple Spanish Fort police, ALEA troopers, ambulances and firefighters were needed to assist with patient care, extrication, potential fire hazards, traffic and potential crowd control and to keep the scene secure.
Additionally, several medical helicopters were dispatched to and landed at the crash scene and airlifted several critical patients to area trauma centers.

In this case, the EMS/Fire systems weren’t overwhelmed by the size or complexity of the scene, but an MCI helps to keep the scene structured under the standardized national system.

Tragically, just this past weekend, another Mass Casualty Incident occurred, this time on the water in Orange Beach.

At approximately 8:10 p.m., Saturday, July 18, 2026, two vessels were involved in a collision that left one person dead and nine others injured.
The wreck occurred in the Intracoastal Waterway near the Wharf at night, and the darkness and the water element in and of itself can pose many dangers, hazards and an increase for additional manpower and equipment.

This “mass casualty incident (MCI) brought many different mutual-aid emergency agencies to the area including the Orange Beach Police Department, Orange Beach Fire Rescue, MedStar Ambulance, Gulf Shores Fire Rescue, Medical Helicopters , ALEA Marine Police, and the Coast Guard.

The incident, which happened in an area which had high vessel traffic at the time of the crash posed numerous issues and the extra manpower, equipment and expertise was a necessity in this type of situation.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) is leading the investigation into the crash, and no other information is being released while they continue their investigation.

In PART TWO, we’ll look into how area emergency resources can be quickly drained or depleted, and how the increase of both visitors and our population are already some agencies to be overwhelmed with their increased call volumes.

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