Texas Transit Association

… the largest ever in the Houston area, was organized by the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County - METRO.

This is only a test
Metro stages huge drill in preparedness at Astrodome
By ROBERT LOPEZ Houston Chronicle, Sept. 25, 2003

It was the unthinkable. Terrorists had attacked a fall festival attended by more than 100,000 people at the Reliant Astrodome, sending bloodied victims streaming from a smoking bus in the parking lot.

The voice on the police radio screamed that 45 to 50 people were confirmed injured and at least 10 were dead. Victims stumbled across the pavement coughing and wheezing, their bodies black with soot and bruises. Observers stood on the sidelines taking notes.

And, fortunately, it wasn’t real.

More than 1,700 people representing 20 government agencies and hospitals gathered in the Astrodome parking lot Thursday for an emergency drill to test the area’s disaster preparedness. Although similar drills have been held before, officials said Thursday’s test by the Metropolitan Transit Authority was the largest ever in Harris County.

Under Metro’s scenario, the Astrodome was playing host to a fall festival that had attracted 100,000 people when a suicide bomber aboard a Metro bus exploded a bomb. As emergency and medical personnel arrived, according to the scenario, terrorists also unleashed an unspecified biological attack.

The event was designed to test the abilities of various law enforcement, medical and governmental agencies to communicate and coordinate efforts in response to a disaster.

Because much of the response would expose the type of law enforcement tactics planned for a real event, officials were not prepared to offer too much analysis on how emergency officials fared.

“We’re not grading people on performance,” said Andrew Icken, the executive vice president of the Texas Medical Center. “We want to put stress on our trauma facilities.”

Although it was only a practice event, everyone involved took it seriously, and respondents felt they handled themselves well.

“The Fire Department, I must say, is doing a very good job, keeping themselves deployed heavily around what they see, so they can be of help to people on the ground,” said Stephen Cichon, the Houston Fire Department’s training director.

Emergency medical workers, firefighters, police, sheriff’s deputies, FBI agents and Coast Guard officials converged on the parking lot Thursday morning. To minimize traffic problems in the area, several emergency vehicles and buses used in the exercise were already on site.

Fire Department cadets stood nearby — drenched in blood, clothes in tatters, and with bones and shrapnel protruding from their arms and legs.

Although some of those portraying victims were afraid to look in the mirror, they took their appearance in stride.

“I imagine we look like something out of horror movie,” said firefighter cadet Jimmy Griffin, who had nails and ball bearings stuck to his skin. “We were thinking about going golfing like this, to see what people at the country club would think.”

Despite the occasional humor, the possibility that emergency personnel’s lifesaving skills could someday be tested for real was never far from their minds.

“Americans get to see what happens every day overseas,” Griffin said. “I hope to God that we never have to see anything like this.”

About 150 students from the Aldine Independent School District and the Houston school district’s High School for Law Enforcement portrayed festival goers who had to be decontaminated with a fire hose. Though all had volunteered, they were hesitant when the time came to take the watery blast.

The exercise was paid for with a $50,000 grant from the Federal Transit Administration. Another exercise is planned for later this year.

“Ultimately, we want to find out how to set up a unified incident command structure so that everybody knows roles and responsibilities as the events change,” Metro Police Chief Tom Lambert said. “That’s what we try to accomplish with these exercises.”