Mock Disaster Conducted at Lion Country
Strike teams throughout Orange County prepared to face the worst Tuesday when they tackled a simulated industrial fire and toxic chemical cloud that, according to the mock scenario, killed or injured almost 200 people.
About 112 firefighters from 18 fire departments and other emergency services participated in the morning disaster drill at two low, white buildings and thenearby parking lot on the former site of Lion Country Safari in Irvine.
The drill began at 9:30 a.m. as smoke bombs simulated a fire. Firefighters and paramedics brought victims to treatment areas, and about 24 people who “died” were held at a makeshift morgue at the scene.
Workers from the Red Cross, ambulances from private companies and buses from the Orange County Transit District were stationed beside the treatment areas to transport the injured to south county hospitals.
At the hospitals, volunteers from Saddleback and Orange Coast colleges and the Southern California College of Medical and Dental Careers helped with the incoming injured.
Jack McFadden, spokesman for the operation, said that the exercises had gone well, but an official analysis will be released next week. “It’s not bad at all to get 200 people moved in an orderly and safe fashion,” he said.
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