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Dirty bomb scenario plays out for film

Production of a training film for first responders closes a street Sunday in downtown St. Petersburg.

By TAMARA EL-KHOURY
Published November 21, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - After hours of sitting around and waiting, Dean Saathoff concluded he would much rather fight a fire than make a film.

Saathoff, a firefighter and EMT with St. Petersburg Fire Rescue, spent his Sunday shift in front of a camera helping to simulate a response to a dirty bomb.

For a week, staff members of the National Terrorism Preparedness Institute at St. Petersburg College have been working with Florida Film & Video to create five training scenarios.

Each film will be less than 2 minutes long and will be used by the International Association of Fire Fighters as class supplements, said Dan Fazzini, project coordinator with the institute.

The association has provided subject matter experts, and local first responders have acted as background characters to give the film authenticity. The films presently in use haven't been updated in 15 years, Fazzini said.

"The whole point of the video is to get students talking, to get them to realize there's no such thing as a normal call anymore," Fazzini said.

The federal government's homeland security network has funded the institute's efforts to create instructional materials and programs for the Departments of Defense and Justice and first responders.

Sunday's filming of a response to a dirty bomb was filmed in downtown St. Petersburg, closing a block of Second Avenue S. The film crew has been at Seminole Mall, Indian Rocks Mini-Storage and Progress Energy Park, creating mock situations involving unidentified substances, bioterrorism and explosions.

Although the filming was something different, Saathoff said he isn't ready for an acting career.

"I'd rather fight a fire any day," he said.

[Last modified November 21, 2005, 01:21:03]