Practice Makes Perfect

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Story Published: Jun 6, 2009 at 6:46 PM PDT

By Sade Malloy

ELLENSBURG -- They're preparing for the worst in Ellensburg. Almost 400 people are spending the weekend simulating a terrorism attack.

"We're still in that level of security threat across this country as the school shootings and things like that have shown us constantly,"says John Sinclair, Kittitas Valley Fire & Rescue.

When it comes to keeping you safe in an emergency even the professionals need some practice. All weekend long Kittitas County emergency personnel are simulating a mass casualty chemical terrorism attack.

Seven chapters of the Red Cross and more than 200 of the National Guard are getting involved bringing this real-life training into a nearly 400 person project. This weekend's hazardous material is similar to hydrochloric acid and would cause respiratory and contact burns.
"Recognize that everybody is going to have to cooperate and you don't know what the situation is going to be," says Rich Elliott, Kittitas Fire & Rescue.

Besides working on their emergency game plan the drill also showed local firefighters that they're missing some major equipment. "We have what are called tyvek suits for this particular agent they would not have been appropriate and exposed our law enforcement and firefighters to the agent itself," says John Sinclair, Kittitas Valley Fire & Rescue.

The more local medical, fire and law enforcement know about their strengths and weaknesses means they'll know how to keep you safe in a worse case scenario.

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