Mock Bombing Puts Emergency Crews to Test

A word of caution: The chaotic scene at Centennial Regional Park Thursday was only a drill.

Although it looked like a real emergency --helicopters flying overhead, people screaming and gasping for air, dozens of fire engines stationed in the middle of a grassy area--it was actually an exercise to test the resources and expertise of various agencies from the federal, state, county and local levels in the event of a nuclear, biological or chemical attack.

The exercise, dubbed the weapons of mass destruction drill, was the first of this magnitude in Orange County.

Santa Ana is among 120 cities around the country that have or will participate in the training initiative that grew out of federal legislation passed three years ago. Anaheim and Huntington Beach will have similar drills soon.

The Oklahoma City bombing, World Trade Center bombing, U.S. Olympic Games bomb in Atlanta and a string of other incidents during the past decade led to the passage of the Defense Authorization Bill in 1996.

According to Robert Plank of the U.S. Army Soldier and Biological Chemical Command in Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., which conducts the training for all the city agencies, the response to the horrific incidents of prior years was inadequate due to lack of organization among the responding agencies. And, in some cases, the presence of chemical and biological agents added another degree of difficulty. The answer, according to the legislators, was to provide emergency response training. To assist with the expenses and materials needed for the exercise, the Department of Defense pitched in $300,000 for each city.

The scenario for the drill at the park was a soccer game that is interrupted by an explosion set off by terrorists. The simulated bomb that went off about 9 a.m. released a deadly gas called sarin. About 120 spectators were either “injured” by the blast, “contaminated” by the released gas or “killed” by the blast or the gas. In an effort to be as realistic as possible, Santa Ana Fire Chief Marc Martin said the “victims” were trained to act as if they were in pain or struggling for air.

Standing beneath some trees watching the events unfolding around him, Martin noticed a couple of victims crawling along the grass and yelling, “Help me! Help me!” As firefighters placed one of them on a backboard, they realized the victim was wearing a tag indicating he was supposed to be dead.

Martin took it in stride and attributed it to overacting.

Plank, of the Army, whose role was to evaluate the proceedings, was pleased with the response by the various agencies which included 12 area hospitals, the FBI, the American Red Cross, the Santa Ana Police Department, and other fire departments from Anaheim, Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa and Newport Beach.

“Orange County is very well up on the curve,” he said from the sidelines as he watched firefighters preparing to decontaminate their equipment in a solution of water and bleach. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen an exercise with this magnitude of hospitals participating,” he said. “It is unprecedented, outstanding mutual aid.”

Ana Beatriz Cholo can be reached at (714) 966-5890.