For UTA terrorism exercise, chaos is just part of the drill

As passengers disembarked from a FrontRunner train at the Salt Lake Central Station on Tuesday morning, they were directed past a triage center, where a couple dozen people in burned and bloody makeup were being evaluated by EMTs.

Emergency responders from the Utah Transit Authority, Amtrak, the Salt Lake City police and fire departments and other agencies participated in the drill to strengthen a potential response to an emergency, in this case, a terrorist attack.

“We want all the chaos and the mess and the learning to happen today. We want it to happen in these kind of scenarios so that — heaven forbid — a real life scenario with mass casualties happens, we’re more prepared for it,” said UTA safety officer Daniel Riley. 

UTA conducts two drills a year, as required by the Federal Transit Administration and Federal Railroad Administration. 

Tuesday’s exercise differed from previous drills in that they simulated explosions at two sites rather than just one. 

First, a simulated detonation in a light rail train at the West Valley Station. Then, a similar detonation at the Salt Lake Central Station. Volunteers at both stations played victims of the attack.

One of the victims screamed, “Shouldn‘t it be further away?” as he got to triage, where victims were lined up to be decontaminated, examined and evaluated by the Salt Lake City fire department. EMTs zip-tied color-coded tags — green, yellow, red and black — to the victims’ wrists, to mark severity of injuries. 

When a Salt Lake Tribune reporter spoke to some of the victims, one woman pointed to the blood painted down the side of her face and — remaining in character — said, ”I can’t hear you!”

Even after all of the volunteer victims had been rescued and triaged, the train platform remained “very much active,” Riley said. A bomb squad swept the train for suspicious objects, and investigators collected evidence. Two bomb squad robots were sent onto the platform to look for any additional devices.  

The drill also gives emergency responders the opportunity to acquaint themselves with people they might not meet outside of disasters. 

“This is a great opportunity for all of us to be able to talk to each other and work with one another,” Riley said. “I think that’s probably one of the most important things with these exercises, just to be able to have an open dialogue with all of the different partners and players.”

Departments discuss their own emergency plans, but participating in the drill gives officials and spokespeople an opportunity to see how to best work with each other.

Joseph Dougherty, the spokesman for the Utah Division of Emergency Management, attended the drill to coordinate with other spokespeople and discuss who would do what: who would address the public and who would set up a family assistance center, for example. 

“This is where we become really good partners,” Dougherty said.