I’ve participated in several of these drills in my town. I wrote the scenario for one. Quite a bit of fun, actually. We used local CERT teams, friends, and family as trained “victims”. We had a professional moulage artist come in and do a bang up job simulating serious injuries, penetrating trauma, battle sign, broken bones, etc.
And yes, we cordoned off the area to keep non-participants away. Nothing sinister about it at all. Our fire and EMS crews got some good mass casualty training and the kids had a great time getting “gored up” as they call it. Taking them out for pizza afterwards was interesting as they refused to remove the make up afterwards.
Our CERT team got some valuable experience integrating with the local cops and fire crews, too. Granted we didn’t have to advertise on CL, but we have a cadre of local citizens trained for this. Maybe Houston doesn’t..
How many people did you help the government kill during these drills?