Photos by Rob Varela / Star staff First responder Kellie Knauss extinguishes a simulated airplane fire during a drill Thursday at Oxnard Airport.

A scaled-down plywood mock-up of a turbo-prop airplane went up in flames on the Oxnard Airport runway Thursday afternoon as fire trucks raced toward it.

Dozens of make-believe accident victims lay nearby as the airport conducted a government-required emergency-preparedness exercise.

Those participating in Thursday's drill were asked to pretend that a commercial airplane carrying 38 people had crashed when its left landing gear collapsed upon touchdown at the airport. Hundreds of gallons of fuel spilled out and a fire ensued. Passenger seats had broken loose and were scattered throughout the plane's cabin.

As part of the fictional scenario, five people were killed, while 13 were either seriously or moderately injured.

Those with the most severe injuries were placed on a red tarp, while those with moderate wounds were sent to a yellow tarp.

The Oxnard Airport has never had an actual crash involving a commercial aircraft in its 73-year history. But airport officials emphasize they must be prepared for the worst.

Sharon Rhoads was asked to sit on a green-colored tarp with some nine other make-believe crash victims who'd received only minor injuries.

The Oxnard area woman said she readily volunteered to be part of the exercise when asked.

"This is a wonderful opportunity to expand on what I've been learning," said Rhoads, who recently took a disaster-preparedness course.

As with the other volunteer victims, a triage tag hung around Rhoads' neck. The tag contained vital-sign readings, including blood-pressure level and pulse and respiration rates. They also carried color-coded stubs, black for those who died, and red, yellow and green for the living, depending on how badly injured they were.

In keeping with the heightened fear of terrorism in this post-Sept. 11 era, the exercise even contained a suspicious person, seen on the runway just before the accident.

The person had run off toward the hangars. Meanwhile, bullet holes were found in the aircraft's fuselage just above the collapsed landing gear.

Representatives from the Transportation Security Administration and Oxnard police were called in to investigate.

"This was a good learning experience for us," Oxnard Police Cmdr. Marty Meyer told a crowd assembled for a debriefing afterward.

Among the things learned was that those responding to such an accident need to do a better job of communicating with area hospitals. In the case of Thursday's exercise, there was a discrepancy between the number of injured patients and available hospital beds.

Those responding also had a difficult time getting the number of passengers on the ground to match those on the aircraft's manifest.

Nearly 100 people in all participated in the exercise, including representatives from the Transportation Security Administration, firefighting agencies and staff from other airports in the area.

Despite the big turnout, had this been an actual emergency, "the amount of resources we had at today's drill would be just the tip of the iceberg of what we would need," Michael O'Malia, a battalion chief with the Oxnard Fire Department, told the crowd.

Airport officials will review in the coming days and weeks how well Thursday's exercise was carried out, said Chad Williams, operations officer for the airport.

Commercial airports like Oxnard's are required to hold these exercises every three years.