Disaster drill called another building block in anti-terrorism

Friday, Sept. 20, 2002 | 9:24 a.m.

Mayor Oscar Goodman called Thursday's massive disaster drill that involved the community a success, and said there are lessons to be learned from the exercise at Cashman Center.

"I can tell you Las Vegas is much safer today than it was 24 hours ago," Goodman said Thursday afternoon at Las Vegas City Council Chambers, where reporters would be briefed in case of a real disaster.

The mayor painted a scenario of criminals releasing a nerve gas inside the convention center, where 300 volunteers acted as victims.

"We know that we need more training," Goodman said.

The $500,000 exercise was paid for in part by a federal $315,000 Homeland Security Grant. The participants, equipment and other resources came from area cities, Clark County and the private sector, he said.

County Commission Chairman Dario Herrera said people responding first to the scene identified the agent.

"Even the hospitals picked up that it could be nerve gas," he said.

Tim McAndrew, Las Vegas emergency manager, said Southern Nevada emergency crews need to find the fine line between racing into a disaster scene to save victims and waiting too long.

"In New York City (after the terrorist attack), firefighters rushed into the building, heroically, but we no longer have those 300 firefighters," McAndrew said.

One lesson the cities and Clark County responders learned was a need to get people felled by a chemical attack to medical help faster, he said.

Another weak link in the system is communicating between federal, state and local agencies operating on different radio frequencies.

In the next week, officials will evaluate what training and equipment might be required to solve weaknesses in the system.

"Homeland defense is a military issue, homeland security is a community issue," Sheriff Jerry Keller said. "This community is as well prepared as any in America."

Last week when the nation's alert status went to "orange," Las Vegas took its own precautions to protect landmarks and infrastructure, Keller said.

Local law enforcement and emergency agencies learned plenty from the 1999 New Year's Eve preparations in Las Vegas, he said.

"Today's exercise was just another building block," Keller said. "The community needs to be the eyes and ears to prevent or thwart any terrorist attack here."

The disaster drill, planned for two years, paid off, Justice Department exercise coordinator Bud Marshall said.

"We always learn from our mistakes," Marshall said.

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas has scheduled a special session for Dec. 3-5 at Santa Fe Station to train business owners and staff.

The three-day program, sponsored by UNLV's Division of Educational Outreach and the National Nuclear Security Administration with Bechtel Nevada, will feature experts in terrorism, industrial safety, law enforcement, emergency response and disaster planning and recovery.

"We're going to keep working until we get it perfect," Goodman said. "All we hope is that we will never have to respond to a terrorism event."