Yonkers Trains For Bioterrorism

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Yonkers trains for bioterrorism

This was no Halloween costume party.

The masked people with fake cuts and bruises in the River Street parking lot yesterday morning were helping Yonkers firefighters, police and emergency responders learn how to react to a bioterrorism evacuation from New York City.

Yonkers needed to have the "dirty bomb" drill, Mayor Phil Amicone said, because the federal government chose the city as one of the first places to send evacuees should a bioterrorism attack occur in New York City.

"We have to know how to react," he said.

The scenario was that four bombs exploded in Manhattan — one on a bus, one inside Penn Station and two on crowded street corners.

A trainload of victims, some of whom might be contaminated with chemical or biological agents like anthrax, came to Yonkers for decontamination and treatment because New York City hospitals couldn't take any more.

The drill would help police, firefighters, emergency medical technicians and citizen emergency volunteers work together smoothly in a disaster, Deputy Police Chief Charles Gardner said.

"These exercises are an important component of our training and preparation," he said.

About 100 volunteer "victims" agreed to take part in the drill. In an actual biological attack, thousands of real victims from Manhattan are expected arrive in Yonkers.

"We wanted to keep things manageable," said John Donaghy, director of Yonkers Office of Emergency Management.

Gardner explained that the basic duties of the drill could be expanded to help more people in a real attack.

For the drill, he said, the city didn't want to take too many emergency crews off the street or disrupt Metro-North train service.

Most of the "victims" were Yonkers students from Roosevelt High School and from the medical-health profession magnet program at Gorton High School. Many said they wanted to be part of the experience.

"It's a good way to know what would happen," said Petagaye Barrett, a 16-year-old junior at Roosevelt High.

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Was anyone there at this training event yesterday? Was it exclusivley Yonkers or was the Westchester County Department of Emergency Management also involved in the exercise? (Meaning was New Rochelle, Mount Vernon, etc, involved as well?) Was anyone able to capture a series of Photographs from the exercise, that might be able to be posted here on EMTBravo?

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Additional Information on Yonkers Bioterrorism Drill

After departing the train station, evacuees would relieve themselves of all manner of wear and personal belongings prior to undergoing a decontamination shower.

An individiual arrived on the Metro-North train station in Yonkers at about 10:20 a.m. this morning. The emergency exercise was underway on track 3. Only images of those “participating” passengers arriving at the station that had exited the station and had begun the decontamination process may be depicted.

Donning opaque gowns designating that an individual had undergone the decontamination process, people would proceed with a CERT (County Emergency Response Team) Yonkers attendant to the triage center where they would be designated in need of further medical attention or whether they would be moved to a temporary evacuation shelter.

Should a "dirty bomb" incident that originates in New York City with the resultant mass evacuation and subsequent care for evacuees result in their arrival to Yonkers by Metro-North Railroad is the scenario replicated in all its imaginings in a full-scale exercise this morning. I arrived at

Hazmat Operations were conducted with gravity, concern, and speed as witnessed by the evacuation by gurney of a victim suffering severe radiation burns about the face.

“In an effort to ensure that we are as prepared as possible in the event of a large serious emergency,” Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone said, ““This is the latest of many preparedness exercises led by the City of Yonkers since 9/11 2001.

Yonkers Fire Department Chief Fitzpatrick explained that should a radioactive or chemical incident occur in New York City, the City of Yonkers would be the logical and likely first point of evacuation along the Metro-North Railroad route along the Hudson Line. There would be no stops between Grand Central Station and the Yonkers Station. With every eight train car departure, the City of Yonkers would be confronted with approximately 1, 200 people in need of immediate attention.

Upon arrival at the Yonkers Station, people would be guided to decontamination units to wash off exposure to radioactive and/or chemical residue. People would then don a protective opaque paper gown that by its very wearing would designate the individual having undergone the decontamination washing. It is only thereafter that people would be designated toward needing further medical attention or not under a triage system.

Chief Fitzpatrick pointed out that “the exercise was necessary to expose those deficiencies that may not reveal themselves when conducted on paper. The need for tweaking one aspect or another in such a grave undertaking is often recognized in the process of these exercises.”

The drill took place at the I. Park parking lot situated off River Street, behind the Board of Education / Riverfront Library, and involved the MTA and Metro-North Railroad, Yonkers Police and Fire Departments, Empress EMS, St. Joseph's, St. John's and Lawrence Hospitals, Yonkers Public Schools, Yonkers DPW, New York State Emergency Management Office, City of Yonkers Office of Emergency Management. Volunteer agencies also included in the exercise: The American Red Cross, Yonkers Auxiliary Police, CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams), Civil Defense Emergency Support Services, R.A.C.E.S. (Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service).

Amicone noted, “I am pleased to be able to inform our residents that our emergency service departments are some of the best equipped and trained in the region.”

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A.P.B. out there for anyone with photos to post on EMTBravo from Yesterday's Drill in Yonkers

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Again - If anyone out there was at Saturday's Training Event and has pictures, can they pass them off to Seth here at EMTBravo, to post.

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The only people taking photos of the drill that I saw were the media, mayor's office, red cross and a woman from the schools. Photos will likely be hard to find.