Mock disaster drill called a success by participants

BUCKSPORT – Beads of moisture collected on Pam Payson’s temples Saturday morning as she recounted the details of a bomb explosion that injured more than a dozen people.

It wasn’t sweat on her brow. It was rain. And it wasn’t a real explosion that occurred on the town’s waterfront. It was a simulation designed to test whether local, county, state and federal officials are properly prepared to respond to a major emergency.

On any normal day, Payson is a Bucksport firefighter. But for Saturday’s exercise, she was a public information officer charged with fielding media questions about the explosion.

After seven months of planning, more than 200 people participated in the daylong drill, including firefighters, police officers, health officials, military teams, hazardous chemical experts and public safety personnel.

The mock disaster occurred on Sprague Dock, where men wearing camouflage and women carrying clipboards and radios scurried about in the rain and mud, performing their intended roles for the Homeland Security training session.

Inside an area roped off by yellow police tape, emergency responders went through the motions of triage, hazardous materials collection, de-contamination and bomb identification. American Red Cross workers were also there, providing food and water to the relief workers.

The Maine National Guard’s 11th Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team was among the participants. In an emergency, the Waterville unit would be called upon to help identify the substance found in a bomb or suspicious package, for example.

Maj. Jay Brock said he and the other members of the team frequently participate in drills like the one in Bucksport.

“This one is pretty well run,” he said. “There has been a lot of interagency interaction, which is what it’s all about.”

While Saturday’s exercise was specific to an act of terrorism, the training session would be relevant to any type of situation resulting in mass casualties, according to Ralph Pinkham, director of the county’s Emergency Management Agency.

“I think these Homeland Security-type exercises that we do better prepare us for any type of disaster,” he said during a telephone interview the morning after the drill. “We did learn some important lessons. Overall, I was very pleased with Hancock County’s first-responders’ capabilities.”