Disaster drillsMaryland drills first responders in response to “large-scale” incident

More than 100 police, fire, first responders, military and civilian personnel took part in a homeland security exercise earlier this month at Battelle in Aberdeen, Maryland.

The exercise included intelligence and information sharing, mass casualty care, on-site security and protection, operational coordination, and public information and communication. 

The Baltimore Sun reports that law enforcement and emergency management officials included representatives of federal, state, and local governments in the state and military representatives from the Aberdeen Proving Ground and Fort Meade.

The mission of the exercise, formally known as the Public Safety Impact Study, was to determine county and regional gaps in resources necessary safely to deal with large scale incident. The exercise also reviewed current roles and responsibilities, resources, and communication mechanisms required to respond and deal with an incident involving Aberdeen Proving Ground as well as other nearby communities.

The one-day activity focused on coordination between military and civilian response personnel in Hartford county and regional response throughout the Baltimore Region Urban Area Security Initiative.

“The exercise was successful and proved to be a valuable tool for emergency management, law enforcement and our military partners in assessing current readiness capabilities. We look forward to conducting similar exercises in the future to help us be better prepared for acts of terrorism or other serious events,” Russell J. Strickland, manager of the Harford County Division of Emergency Operations told the Baltimore Sun.