2,000 Train for Response to Terrorist Gas Attack

As a crowd waits for a military air show to begin, a bomb explodes behind them. An invisible gas seeps over the screaming crowd. Some drop dead. Others stagger away. Many fall to the ground, writhing in agony and moaning for help.

This scenario of a sarin gas attack was enacted at the Van Nuys Airport on Tuesday in the largest full-scale decontamination drill ever held in the United States and the biggest joint law enforcement anti-terrorist exercise in the history of Los Angeles, the FBI said.

More than 2,000 law enforcement, military and health and safety personnel from federal, state and local agencies took part in the exercise, sponsored by the Defense Department, to train emergency workers to deal with chemical weapons terrorism.

A “bomb” went off beside an aircraft apron where 200 Marines stood in civilian clothes, playing the role of spectators. As a cloud of whitish, vanilla-scented “gas” wafted over the group, firefighters, medical personnel and other waiting rescue workers rehearsed how they would handle such an attack.

If a terrorist attack involving weapons of mass destruction ever occurs, it isn’t enough that individual agencies know what to do--they also need to coordinate, organizers said.

“We are learning to act as one when such an act occurs,” said FBI spokesman Ramiro Escudero.

Today, the various agencies are to rehearse management of the aftermath of a chemical attack, including environmental cleanup at the airport, and providing shelters for survivors, a spokesman said.

The exercise is set to end Thursday with performance evaluations.