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Readiness tested for terror attack
By LEANORA MINAI, Times Staff Writer ST. PETERSBURG -- Here's the drill: An explosion rocks the Bayfront Center during an international volleyball tournament. Bodies lie everywhere, and an unexplained green powder is spilling from the waterfront building. It was all pretend Wednesday, but if St. Petersburg was the target of a terrorist chemical attack, would emergency workers be ready to handle it? Yes, said Konstanty Kaminski, who manages the drills for the U.S. Department of Justice. But there's always room for improvement, he added. Kaminski attended the drill in St. Petersburg, the 84th of 120 cities to practice its response to a catastrophe. The federal government began financing the drills, which each cost $100,000 to $150,000, in 1997. Because of the Sept. 11 attacks, the drills hold new meaning. Emergency workers no longer wonder if a terror attack will happen but when, Kaminski said. "There's an increased sense of urgency," Kaminski said. In the coming months, the Justice Department will send St. Petersburg officials a critique of their response, which involved 200 emergency workers from 23 law enforcement agencies in the Tampa Bay area. Tampa and Jacksonville have had the drills. The agencies participating Wednesday, including St. Petersburg police and firefighters, communicated well, officials said. "Kaminski basically said that they've done about eight other drills like this one in other cities and on the scale of how we did, we are in the 'excellent' category," said Rick Stelljes, St. Petersburg police spokesman. One area to improve: Detectives need to immediately search for suspects, and emergency workers should always be ready for a second, surprise attack after the initial strike. Second attacks are meant to distract and hurt police and emergency workers. The drill at the Bayfront Center, 401 First St. S, began at 9 a.m. with a loud firecrackerlike explosion on the side of the arena. White smoke billowed from the building. Coughing and breathless, victims wearing tattered clothing staggered from the cloud. A minute passed and the voice of an emergency dispatcher crackled over a radio. She was sending units to the scene. Details, though, were sketchy. "There's a police officer down," the dispatcher announced. "There's a loud explosion. There's a lot of smoke." Eight minutes passed. Emergency vehicles still had not arrived. The dispatcher had more information. Several are dead. Victims are having seizures and vomiting. "That's a very good clue that it's more than just a simple explosion," St. Petersburg fire Lt. Chris Bengivengo told drill observers, who included Mayor Rick Baker, among other city officials. After 10 minutes, emergency vehicles rolled on the scene. Screaming people with a green powder were cordoned off, and firefighters hosed them down to remove the chemical. Suddenly, a second explosion detonated in a vehicle. This one was meant to destroy a water truck used to decontaminate victims. Meanwhile, volunteers pretending to be family members rushed to the scene and approached firefighters. "My daughter's in there!" shouted a distraught father. Emergency workers ran through the drill for four hours Wednesday. In the end, people were pleased. Said Baker, the mayor of St. Petersburg: "The city is doing everything it can to prepare in case of any disaster."
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