Video: Iowa Hosted Weapons of Mass Destruction Drill Last Week

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Weapons of Mass Destruction Drill

Local news outlets in Iowa had to warn residents not to fear if they saw armed military troops, men in hazmat suits, or other out-of-the-ordinary sights last week as they hosted a “Weapons of Mass Destruction Drill”.  The drill would include bomb units, emergency vehicles, and a test run of how a response to a nuclear blast would be handled if it were to be detonated on the vast and expansive terrorist target corn and soy fields of the middle of America.

Local news NBC WHO reported:

This week you may notice extra emergency vehicles and public safety officers running around in tactical gear, Hazmat suits, and bomb suits. It’s a part of a statewide drill Des Moines is hosting Tuesday and Wednesday to prepare emergency personnel for dealing with weapons of mass destruction.

Brian O’Keefe with the Des Moines Fire Department said emergency officials in Iowa need to be prepared for anything.

“You know we’re number one seed producer with corn and soy, chicken embryo development, middle of the country heartland. So I’m sure all states access it. But we’re a target like any other large community,” said O’Keefe.

More than 100 emergency response personnel from around the state will participate [in the “Weapons of Mass Destruction Drill”] including bomb technicians, law enforcement and Iowa Homeland Security.

Tuesday morning officials will met at the Wells Fargo Arena and review proper procedures for dealing with potential WMDs. After the review they’ll get into teams and go through various stations assessing different hypothetical situations and practicing with different detection equipment.

Weapons Of Mass Destruction Drill

Because most teams already know how to handle WMDs on their own, officials say working together with local, regional, and state agencies is what will be most important in these exercises.

“It’s the leadership that’s critical. We will always learn what we can over these next couple of days, but most of that’s already shared. We’ve already standardized the tactics the techniques and the procedures so this is just more of doing the handshake, of making sure we’re both working on the same plan and making sure that what we’ve trained for actually flows smoothly,” said O’Keefe.

On Wednesday personnel will hold a large scale drill at the Wells Fargo Arena and on the east side of Des Moines.

 

 

Royce Christyn

Royce Christyn

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