Local emergency crews train for terrorist attacks

Jace Radke

Wednesday, May 3, 2000 | 11:10 a.m.

About 300 of Clark County's emergency services professionals are going back to school this week.

As part of a Department of Defense program, police, firefighters, paramedics and other emergency responders are participating in seminars and drills to prepare them for dealing with terrorist activities.

"Unfortunately terrorism is something you don't know where or when it will strike," Las Vegas Fire Chief Mario Trevino said. "The best thing to do is to get the training and be ready, so that you're not caught completely off guard."

The Las Vegas area, including Henderson and North Las Vegas, is the 83rd metropolitan area of 120 picked nationwide to be trained by the Department of Defense for incidents involving nuclear, biological or chemical weapons, Army spokeswoman Ann Gallegos said.

"The main factor in determining the cities that receive the training is population," Gallegos said. "We take the training they already have and add what needs to be done when they're dealing with chemical, biological or nuclear situations."

The weeklong training at Cashman Center consists of table top exercises, seminars, lectures and demonstrations.

Representatives of Metro, Henderson and North Las Vegas police, Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson and Clark County fire departments, American Medical Response ambulance company and emergency personnel from Boulder City and Mesquite are among those attending the training.

The training is available because of the 1997 Defense Authorization Bill, which allows the Department of Defense to enhance the capability of federal, state and local emergency responders when dealing with terrorists.

On Tuesday one group of emergency medical technicians was put through a simulation of a bus crash.

"We don't tell them what they're dealing with except what they would hear over their radios," Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski said. "You don't know if there is some terrorist activity going on until you get to the scene, so we're just trying to impress on them to think of the possibilities as they are doing their jobs."

Among the topics that will be discussed are responder awareness, incident command, hazardous materials technicians, emergency medical response and hospital provider training.