Officials In Kane County Conduct Emergency Training Drill
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Less than a day after a mass shooting in Oregon, it seems strangely coincidental authorities in Kane County were staging a large-scale drill on Friday, centered on a possible domestic terrorism event.
The role-playing involved people injured by a mock bomb explosion, and the sight and smell of pungent smoke amid the chaos of first responders rushing in to sharpen their skills.
Outside the window of a communications van, stretchers were laid out on the ground, with bodies lying on them.
Batavia Fire Department Deputy Chief Randy Banker was overseeing the drill, involving about 200 firefighters, paramedics, police officers, sheriff's deputies, and federal agents.
"We're testing the response of local firefighters, all the way up to FBI," he said.
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The coincidence or irony of Friday's drill, after Thursday's events in Oregon, when a gunman shot and killed nine people at Umpqua Community College in the small city of Roseburg. Police officers killed the gunman in an exchange of gunfire.
"This event's going to involve some of the stuff from those recent events in the country, and unfortunately those events that happened yesterday are just too common," Banker said. "Everything we're doing today would be used in an active shooter drill. If you look at the situation in Columbine, it was an active shooter, but it involved explosives, it involved fire, it involved multiple people injured."
While Friday's drill in Elgin was only a staged violence, first responders taking part said after what happened in Oregon, real is relative.
The training drill continues through Saturday, and includes personnel from 25 fire departments, police departments, and federal agencies. The performance of those taking part in the drill will be evaluated next week, and officials hope they can share what they learned with other agencies and departments statewide.
