County plans massive terror drill
Grant gives emergency personnel a chance to train for possible disasters

Susan Voyles RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
Posted: 6/26/2005 11:27 pm

With a $400,000 federal grant to pay extra wages for firefighters, police and other first responders, Washoe County is organizing a full-scale training exercise for November involving a terrorist plot and hazardous materials.

“It’s going to be the largest-scale exercise in the region,” said Aaron Kenneston, county emergency operations manager.

Kenneston said several hundred people will take part. Sparks officials will lead the practice drill involving pretend terrorists and first responders wearing chemical-protection suits, he said. Creating the exact plot will be part of the exercise.

Reno officials oversaw a training exercise in late May at the Reno/Tahoe International Airport. In that exercise, county deputies took to casino rooftops to look for pretend terrorists who shot down an aircraft with a shoulder-fired missile launcher. The county oversaw a flood-alert exercise earlier in the year.

The $400,000 grant from the federal Homeland Security Department will pay overtime for the participants or regular pay for others to do their normal jobs.

Kenneston is grateful for the grant, saying past exercises have been funded with a barely adequate budget.

“It’s the age-old problem in emergency management and first responders,” he said. “While you are planning and doing an exercise, real-life exercises occur. Everybody has to reel up the hoses and go respond.”

About 20 to 30 responders will begin with a weeklong training program on how to conduct a training exercise to meet Homeland Security standards, go through several tabletop exercises and then put together the regional exercise. They’ll conduct exercises, drills and keep refining the exercise in monthly progress reviews.

(source)