WILLIAM McCALL Associated Press writer | Posted: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 12:00 am
PORTLAND, Ore. - A bright flash lit up an old city bus followed by a loud explosion from a simulated "dirty bomb" to open what organizers say is the largest terrorism exercise in the nation.
But after the initial tension, and yells of "Fire in the hole!" to prepare participants for the bomb simulation, the exercise started grinding away at what might be the aftermath of a real attack - trying to assess the damage, save lives and hold confusion to a minimum.
"You can never do enough of these exercises," said Michael Greenberger, director of the Center for Health and Homeland Security at the University of Maryland.
Like previous exercises, the fourth national TOPOFF drill - short for "top officials" - was staged to test the response of local, state and federal agencies and to measure how well they work together in a crisis.
The scenario that unfolded Tuesday morning in Portland involved a conventional bomb combined with radioactive material - a so-called dirty bomb - detonated at a mock-up of the Steel Bridge, one of the reasons Portland was chosen, along with Phoenix and Guam, for the exercise.
Portland is bisected by the Willamette River and depends heavily on its bridges, including two freeway bridges that are a key part of the arterial route that connects the entire West Coast - Interstate 5.
The staging area was Portland International Raceway, just off the interstate but well away from downtown Portland and public view.
It was decked out with demolished cars and some piles of rubble that were quickly strewn with actors playing the role of blast victims. The old bus was a stand-in for one of the light-rail commuter trains that uses the Steel Bridge.
Police were the first to arrive at the staging area, followed by fire crews with radioactivity detectors.
"Any time they respond to an explosion they are required by protocol to pull out a (radiation) monitor," said Patty Hopkins, exercise and training program manager for the Portland Office of Emergency Management.
Police do not have detectors, but protocol requires them to don gas masks and protective gear, said Terri Wallo-Strauss, Portland Police Bureau spokeswoman.
The emergency crews began their work by performing triage to sort out the most seriously injured while hazardous material teams were tracking plumes from the explosion.
The first step was "dry contamination" - removing contaminated clothing - to limit the exposure to radiation among the victims and prevent the toxic material from dispersing further, Hopkins said.
Similar scenarios were being played out in Arizona and Guam, but those exercises were "tabletop" drills that involved mostly communications testing without mobilizing crews or equipment, officials said.
Congress began the TOPOFF drills in 2000 to prepare for disaster after a deadly sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway in 1995 raised concerns about attacks worldwide.
The emphasis remains on counterterrorism, especially after the September 2001 terrorist attacks, but the TOPOFF exercise also is used to prepare for natural disasters, such as hurricanes or earthquakes, requiring cooperation at all levels of government.
"It's very confusing when you have an event that calls into play the state, federal and local governments," Greenberger said, "and we had that in the Hurricane Katrina situation."
But he said disaster response has improved since Katrina, and the lessons from it and exercises such as TOPOFF are invaluable in planning to reduce casualties and provide vital supplies and services.
Details from the last TOPOFF exercise in 2005, however, still have not been made public.
Congress demanded those results last week, but members of the House Homeland Security Committee did not get a direct answer about why it has taken two years to finish the "after-action" report from the last $25 million exercise.
Critics also have asked why the government spends so much money on fictional scenarios when it could be spending more on analysis of real disasters.
"Lessons were lost during Katrina because nobody was there to observe what was going on," said Michael Hopmeier, president of Unconventional Concepts Inc., a Florida engineering and scientific consulting firm that specializes in disaster response.
"If we make the same mistakes over and over again and not change something to reduce the mistakes, an exercise is totally valueless," Hopmeier said.
The TOPOFF exercise that runs through Friday involves about 4,500 people in Oregon. Nationally, about 15,000 will participate, including Arizona and Guam.