Lehigh Valley Counter Terrorism Drill
On Saturday March 24, 2007 a multi-agency Counter Terrorism Drill was held in the Lehigh Valley area. It involved teams from Lehigh and Northampton counties, and Pennsylvania Urban Search and Rescue Task Force. Below are a couple pics and info from the drill. More Pics can be found on my photosite page.
The drill involved three locations, the first being at the Catasauqua High School where a major Hazmat operation took place and where there where up to 75 students as victims. While in the process of assessing the situation, and setting up a gross decontamination it was discovered that one of the victims was wearing a collar bomb. The situation was evaluated and taken care of by the Allentown Bomb Squad. Other fire units took care of the Hazmat incident and secured the scene. Northampton County EMA Command Post was the primary Command Post on Scene.
The second location was on Willowbrook Road in Hanover Twp. There units from the Lehigh County Hazmat team and the Lehigh County Coroners office. Units went through homes due for demolition and found numerous bodies while trying to find hazardous and explosive substances. Units also went through a decontamination process for all entry crews. This was run by the Lehigh County Special Operations unit and the Lehigh County Command Post was the primary Command Post on this sight. (Below is a picture from this location, more pics on firtog.photosite.com)
Lehigh County Tech Rescue Making Entry Under Rubble
The third location minus the hospitals was at the Allentown Fire Academy Training Grounds. There the Lehigh County Tech Rescue and the Pennsylvania Urban Search and Rescue conducted a building collapse scenario with numerous victims. The two agencies worked side by side to make holes and find voids to extricate the victims involved in the collapse. The Lehigh County Tech Rescue commander took command of the incident at this location, there was also a media briefing on the drill at this location. The drill as a hole will be evaluated and critiqued at a later date. (Below is a picture from this operation more pictures can be found on firtog.photosite.com)
