Lynden part of May 6 homeland security drill

Calvin Bratt
Tribune editor

  WHATCOM -- A multi-level disaster response drill next Tuesday will bring U.S. military personnel and equipment to Whatcom County and will turn the Northwest Washington Fairgrounds into a staging area for treatment and transport.
  The scenario is of a terrorist chemical release near Birch Bay, and during the day citizens may see the military and emergency responder activity, including helicopters and hazardous materials units participating in the exercise, according to county public information officer Joe Bates.
  Also, students from local high schools have been lined up to play the roles of dozens of mock victims.
  The exercise will involve over 100 military persons, 35 ambulances, aircraft, and local law enforcement and fire district agencies, said Bates in an email.
  This effort has been in planning for the past year and came about through the interest of Whatcom County in a joint training exercise, said Don Miles, public affairs officer with U.S. Northern Command at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo.
  "It's not because anybody thinks anything is likely to happen there," Miles said, referring to the Whatcom location.
  The National Level Exercise 2-08, as it is called, runs May 1-8 and also entails a Category 4 hurricane threatening Washington, D.C., and the accidental release of a chemical agent at a chemical stockpile in Umatilla, Ore., according to Federal Emergency Management Agency's website.
  Participating in NLE 2-08 locally will be the law enforcement agencies of the cities in Whatcom County, the county, and the state, plus several Whatcom County fire districts.
  The Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office and the Division of Emergency Management has taken a lead role in planning this event. NLE 2-08 will enable “shoulder to shoulder” participation among local, tribal, state and federal response agencies, said Don Boyd, deputy director of county emergency management.
  Boyd said that every three years at Bellingham International Airport there is a full-scale drill of local emergency response usually involving the state, but this will be the first deployment of Department of Defense resources in a Whatcom exercise.
  The Lynden fairgrounds activity, starting about 9 a.m., is an "extension" of the staged chemical release at Birch Bay, but there will not be transport between the two sites, Boyd said.
  For the Lynden and Birch Bay sites, the students are from Lynden, Lynden Christian, Blaine, Ferndale and Nooksack Valley high schools, he said. Western Washington University is supplying student volunteers for "victim" roles at St. Joseph Hospital.
  Responders will have a chance to test their decontamination, triage, treatment and transport capabilities.
  Boyd said that the exercise also calls for an explosion on the Coleman Dock ferry terminal in Seattle on May 2.
  Jim Baron, fair manager, said that access to the grounds will be controlled by Lynden Police.
  Police Chief Jack Foster said his force will be involved in a support role for the exercise
  E-mail Calvin Bratt at editor@lyndentribune.com.