City workers get crash course on handling possible terror attack

Carson City's public works supervisors and law enforcement heads got a crash course on handling a possible terror attack this week during three days of training with experts from Texas A&M.

About 35 representatives from the fire department, sheriff's department, health department, gas company, parks department and public works department took part in the program sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security.

The course objective was to train managers and supervisors of their responsibilities and roles in a response to a terrorist attack scenarios involving nuclear, biological, chemical, radiological and explosive attacks.

Monday, the group toured four of Carson City's potential targets - the hospital, Legislative Building, Quill Water Tank and the water treatment plant.

"It's critical for us, all of the different representatives here, to know what our part is," said fire department Battalion Chief Robert Charles.

"I thought the class was an eye-opener. It was like networking in your own back yard," said Sheriff's Lt. Ken Sandage. "It was nice to see what everyone's responsibilities would be, like letting the left hand know what the right hand is doing."

Texas A&M's National Emergency Response and Rescue Training Center was established to train local and state officials and emergency responders to prepare for and respond to acts of terrorism.

The center uses the hands-on, performance-oriented training and simulations to enhance a jurisdiction's ability to respond to and manage weapons-of-mass-destruction incidents.

"This was a good class," said Undersheriff Steve Albertsen. "Some of the things that the training brought out was that we need to share more information between the city departments. The class really focused on assessing our area and using what was learned in (responding) to the Oklahoma City bombing and the attacks on the World Trade Center and how we can apply those lessons to our area."

n Contact reporter F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.