A Maryland Transit Administration bus plowed into a group of people in a Baltimore County flea market Sunday morning, injuring about 70 people and hitting a tractor-trailor carrying nitric acid ? a toxic liquid used to make fertilizers and other chemicals.
That was the scenario for an emergency preparedness drill in Baltimore County on Interstate 70 eastbound near the Security Boulevard Park and Ride.
For more than five hours Sunday, emergency personnel workers and volunteers acted out just what might happen under those circumstances.
More than 400 people ? representing various county and state agencies and local volunteers ? participated in the drill, which was coordinated by the Baltimore County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
The participating agencies spent about 10 months preparing and training for the drill, said Michael W. Robinson, division chief and public information officer for the Baltimore County Fire Department.
“We do this on an annual basis, and we?re doing it right before hurricane season” because of the possibility of a natural disaster hitting the area, he said.
William Spencer-Strong, battalion chief of the Baltimore County Fire Department, said an evaluation of the drill will take place followed by a report in a few months.
“We?ll look at the areas we did well in and the areas where we need to improve,” he said.
Robinson said some of the goals of the drill were to:
» Comply with the National Incident Management System, which sets forth federal guidelines to ensure smooth communication among different jurisdictions.
» Ensure that emergency crews could communicate effectively, such as via handheld devices and through the mobile command post, a vehicle equipped with radio and other communications equipment.
» Manage multiple patients through “triage, treatment and transport,” where patients are prioritized based on their injuries and sent to hospitals for treatment.
