Replies

Washington DC Conducting Two Day Mass-Casualty Exercise
Source: US Government | 12:55:22 PM EST

(Washington, DC) - The Government of the District of Columbia will host a two-day emergency preparedness field exercise Thursday, September 23, 2004, at St. Elizabeths Hospital, and Friday, September 24, 2004, on the campus of Catholic University from 7 am - 8 pm each day. Residents and visitors in these areas will see “mock” emergency activities to include: large gathering of people, noise such as sirens, and smoke. This is only a drill.

During the exercise, first responders and key personnel from the District’s Emergency Management Agency, Departments of Health and Fire and Emergency Medical Services, Metropolitan Police Department, and various hospitals will test their emergency response equipment. Test messages will be communicated on emergency personnel devices such as scanners, pagers, and health alert networks. Each message will be clearly worded to indicate that it is indeed a drill. If a real emergency occurs during this time, the drill will end and emergency personnel will respond accordingly.

The exercise has the following objectives:

.Rapidly assess the needs of affected people at an emergency scene

.Coordinate the local Incident Command Structure (ICS)

.Determine whether local resources can adequately respond to an incident involving mass casualties

.Analyze the need for assistance from higher levels of government

.Test procedures for obtaining medicine from the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS)

.Bring together health and medical services partners that would respond during an emergency

.Test the effectiveness of DC’s public health emergency system and

.Determine whether DOH, DC hospitals and emergency response personnel interact effectively

PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES WILL BE PROVIDED EACH DAY.
THE DISTRICT GOVERNMENT IS ASKING THAT THE MEDIA ASSIST
IN GETTING THE WORD OUT TO THE PUBLIC THAT VOLUNTEERS
ARE STILL NEEDED AND THAT THE FIELD EXERCISE IS JUST A DRILL.

Related links:
http://doh.dc.gov/news_room/release.asp?id=248&mon=200409

"If a real emergency occurs during this time, the drill will end and emergency personnel will respond accordingly."

http://www.boston.com/news/packages/sept11/anniversary/wire_stories/0903_plane_exercise.htm

Agency planned exercise on Sept. 11 built around a plane crashing into a building

By John J. Lumpkin, Associated Press

WASHINGTON — In what the government describes as a bizarre coincidence, one U.S. intelligence agency was planning an exercise last Sept. 11 in which an errant aircraft would crash into one of its buildings. But the cause wasn't terrorism -- it was to be a simulated accident.

Officials at the Chantilly, Va.-based National Reconnaissance Office had scheduled an exercise that morning in which a small corporate jet would crash into one of the four towers at the agency's headquarters building after experiencing a mechanical failure.

The agency is about four miles from the runways of Washington Dulles International Airport.

Agency chiefs came up with the scenario to test employees' ability to respond to a disaster, said spokesman Art Haubold. No actual plane was to be involved -- to simulate the damage from the crash, some stairwells and exits were to be closed off, forcing employees to find other ways to evacuate the building.

"It was just an incredible coincidence that this happened to involve an aircraft crashing into our facility," Haubold said. "As soon as the real world events began, we canceled the exercise."

Terrorism was to play no role in the exercise, which had been planned for several months, he said.

Adding to the coincidence, American Airlines Flight 77 -- the Boeing 767 that was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon -- took off from Dulles at 8:10 a.m. on Sept. 11, 50 minutes before the exercise was to begin. It struck the Pentagon around 9:40 a.m., killing 64 aboard the plane and 125 on the ground.

The National Reconnaissance Office operates many of the nation's spy satellites. It draws its personnel from the military and the CIA.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, most of the 3,000 people who work at agency headquarters were sent home, save for some essential personnel, Haubold said.

An announcement for an upcoming homeland security conference in Chicago first noted the exercise.

In a promotion for speaker John Fulton, a CIA officer assigned as chief of NRO's strategic gaming division, the announcement says, "On the morning of September 11th 2001, Mr. Fulton and his team ... were running a pre-planned simulation to explore the emergency response issues that would be created if a plane were to strike a building. Little did they know that the scenario would come true in a dramatic way that day."

The conference is being run by the National Law Enforcement and Security Institute.

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2001/09/10/daily25.html?t=printable

LATEST NEWS
September 11, 2001

Real emergency cancels disaster preparedness drill

A drill to test preparations for an attack by weapons of mass destruction was derailed by the apparent terrorist attack Tuesday.

Local hospitals, city officials, law enforcement, fire departments, emergency management services, the FBI and the U.S. Marine Corps were to participate in a drill scheduled for Thursday. The event at Richards-Gebaur Memorial Airport in Kansas City was part of an effort to prepare for an attack on the United States.

Mike Kohn, corporate director of safety and security for Health Midwest, said the drill has been canceled. It is unclear whether the drill will be rescheduled, he said.