Pennsylvania Bioterrorism Event Staged for Practice Next Week

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, May 7, 2004 (ENS) - For the first time anywhere in the country a multi-agency field exercise to practice responses to bioterrorism will take place in southeastern Pennsylvania on Monday and Tuesday.

The exercise will start the way a real incident might begin - people playing the role of victims will be situated at area hospitals. During this exercise, the FBI will interview 65 to 70 victims showing varying levels of symptoms related to exposure to a biological agent at 13 hospitals throughout the five southeastern Pennsylvania counties.

The results of these joint interviews should lead to field responses in at least two locations - a large public facility in Montgomery County at about 10:00 pm on Monday and a large public facility in Philadelphia on Tuesday morning.

Field exercise organizers are withholding the locations in order to preserve the integrity of the exercise for its participants and to be able to accurately evaluate their response. The public will be notified of the sites once the respective response efforts are underway.

This exercise is the culmination of a year long training series focusing on preparedness for a bioterrorism event that has included seminars, presentations and a variety of tabletop exercises, all of which are part of a multi-layered strategy to assist in enhancing the region’s readiness to deal with weapons of mass destruction.

The field exercise, which was developed by the Philadelphia Division of the FBI with the assistance of the United States Attorney’s Office, will follow up on the general scenario which began at an October 24, 2003 tabletop exercise at the Montgomery County Fire Academy.

Law enforcement, emergency management and public health agencies, fire departments, emergency responders, hospitals, private industry and others, will all participate in this multi-county training event with the ultimate goal of assessing and improving the region’s ability to coordinate joint operations in mobilizing a response to these hazards.

Agencies that have participated in prior training sessions will have the opportunity to test their mobilization efforts and response protocols in the field during this staged event.