(The following story by Gregory Smith appeared on the Providence Journal website on October 1, 2009.)
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Regional emergency management officials will conduct a mass-casualty drill Saturday based on a passenger train wreck.
The exercise is coincidental to a national terrorism concern involving mass transit.
The drill was scheduled before the FBI three weeks ago arrested what it called the leader of a terrorist cell that was planning to ignite explosions in mass-transit systems on the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Wednesday, the national alert system remained at yellow, representing a significant risk of attack. And enhanced security remained in place at key locales such as train stations.
Although national Homeland Security officials are preoccupied with the heightened terrorist threat, the scenario for the local drill will assume that an accident has occurred due to human error or mechanical malfunction — not terrorism.
The drill, which is meant to test the preparedness of Amtrak and municipalities in a regional compact called the Metropolitan Medical Response System, will be centered on Amtrak’s maintenance-of-way railyard off Smithfield Avenue and Silver Spring Street.
“They’re going to have a train in the yard to act as the actual incident,” said Peter T. Gaynor, director of the Providence Emergency Management Agency and Office of Homeland Security.
The scenario calls for 130 volunteers to manage the activities and to serve as “victims” — 85 injured and 15 dead — who will appear with realistic wounds and as relatives of “victims” seeking their loved ones. Officials will set off at least one smoke bomb to simulate a fire in the “wreck” that was caused when a train struck a piece of Amtrak maintenance equipment and was “derailed.”
“We want to make it as real as possible,” Gaynor said.
The participants will come from a corps of volunteers assembled by the Providence Emergency Management Agency as well as volunteers from agencies such as the Rhode Island chapter of the American Red Cross and ServeRI (formerly the Volunteer Center of Rhode Island).
In the morning, the participants will familiarize themselves with the scenario, the layout and Amtrak procedures, and the drill will be conducted in the afternoon.
“It’s a pretty dangerous place to be, on the railroad,” Gaynor noted. “Lots of fast-moving equipment, electricity running through.”
Besides the City of Providence, the Metropolitan Medical Response System includes Pawtucket, Central Falls, North Providence, Johnston, Cranston, Warwick and West Warwick. Saturday’s event is designed to exercise the participants in the northern part of that geographic area and a similar event is planned for the southern part next spring.