AUBURN - A suicide bomber detonated an explosive at Weedsport’s Whitford Airport Monday afternoon in an attempted assassination of two influential U.S. senators.

At least that’s what happened on the computer screen at Cayuga Community College during a simulated terrorism exercise.

The event, organized by the Cayuga County Emergency Management Office and funded with grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, presented a phony scenario in which a terrorist bomb at the airport caused several injuries, a punctured 3,000-gallon fuel tank, scattered debris and a strong chlorine odor.

Various community agencies also had to react to the news that an unattended bag with a pipe bomb-like device had been found inside Auburn Memorial Hospital.

Participants, including representatives from the EMO, hospital, county health department, sheriff’s office, county hazmat team and Weedsport Fire Department, were asked to pretend as if the event had really occurred.

The simulation exercise was conducted in preparation for a full-scale weapons of mass destruction drill at Whitford Airport Thursday, Aug. 11. The live drill will require agencies to go to the scene and use real equipment.

“I’m excited that we can actually have a dry run through the scenario before the actual drill,” said Roman Rotko, county EMS coordinator and the man behind the storyline.

Rotko credited his courses at the Center for Domestic Preparedness in Anniston, Ala., for assisting him with the development of the Weedsport scenario. Its creation often involved thinking like a terrorist, he said.

Both the computer simulation and actual drill are designed to help the county learn to manage a terrorist attack. Emergency Management Deputy Director Victoria Chamberlain said they would also allow different agencies to develop relationships and work together, should one occur.

“Typically, everybody is doing their own little things,” Chamberlain said. “But when you have a big thing, all of the agencies are involved and intertwined, and they’re not used to playing with each other.”

The different representatives sat together in a classroom that was often loud with chatter.

Weedsport Fire Department Chief Tom Winslow, incident commander for the scenario, established a command post toward the front of the room, and members of the state police, sheriff’s department and EMO soon joined him.

For practice, many participants communicated via radio.

Marilyn Bergerstock, a dispatcher for emergency services, had a radio in each hand, one for the sheriff’s department and one for fire dispatch. She said that although she was satisfied with the drill and that EMO could have done nothing to make it any more realistic, an actual incident would be much different.

“It went a lot smoother here than in reality,” Bergerstock said after the 75-minute drill, noting that the volume of calls would have been significantly greater. “It would have been a lot more chaotic.”

Outside the main room where the drill was conducted, observers visited a corridor with mock decontamination and triage centers. Pieces of paper scattered along the hallway represented victims; each had a detailed description of an individual’s condition. Papers laid face down -including one of a suspected terrorist - were considered deceased victims.

“This is kind of where it really sets in,” said EMS official Michael Deyneka, noting that nurses will have to prioritize who they treat. “This is where decisions have got to be made.”

The event was officially called a tabletop exercise, a term used for simulations conducted with model cities set on large boards.

But EMO’s exercise was more high-tech, thanks to CCC’s Institute for the Application of Geospatial Technology. Sid Cuff, an IAGT geospatial information technology technician, spent the last few weeks creating detailed, three-dimensional aerial views of the Weedsport and Auburn areas using advanced computer software programs. Cuff was able to zoom in on specific lands surrounding the airport or hospital and denote the agencies’ locations with large labels.

After the drill, participants offered up feedback. Pat DiNonno, Hazmat coordinator for Cayuga County, was impressed with the level of cooperation between organizations.

“(This) proves today that you can work together as a uniform group,” DiNonno said. “All you have to do is sit down and listen to each other.”

EMO was able to organize the exercise and full-scale drill with three Homeland Security grants totaling roughly $50,000, Chamberlain said. Part of this money went toward the purchase of an interactive system known as SmartBoard ($12,000) and contracting with IAGT ($5,600), she said.

(source / full list of drills)