CEDAR CITY — The scenario: A deadly mixture of mustard gas and Lewisite — both chemical blister agents with the potential to kill — explodes into the early morning air on the outskirts of Cedar City on Saturday.
Six minutes later, a Utah Highway Patrol trooper rolled onto the chaotic scene, stopping several dozen yards from a school bus parked not far from the initial blast site and a still billowing dust cloud.
What to do next? How to handle the situation? Those were the questions hundreds of participants were asked to tackle during a chemical weapons training exercise dubbed "Operation Dixie."
Nearly 400 people, including actors playing the part of the injured, participated in the operation that brought together members of the Southwest Regional Response Team. There are seven such regional teams in the state.
Law enforcement, emergency personnel, medical crews, fire departments and other first responders from Beaver, Garfield, Iron, Kane and Washington counties belong to the southwest team.
"It's taken us over one year to get this exercise in place," said Nannette Rolfe, director of the Utah Department of Public Safety's Division of Emergency Services and Homeland Security. "This is the first exercise of this type involving regional response teams. It's an important step up in safety."
During the mock disaster, numerous "victims" of varying ages and levels of pain were wandering about with huge chemical blisters covering part of their bodies. A few of the injured women screamed for help, a man yelled he was going to die, and three women lay motionless on the asphalt road.
The trooper, in that initial response, came too close to the victims, inadvertently contaminating himself in the process, said Gary Vetterli, director of the operation.
"We have some issues here," Vetterli said, after watching the scene unfold on a frontage road just off I-15. "He (the trooper) got tagged. He's out of the game for 30 minutes. We'll have to debrief him to find out what he knew and why he came in too close."
To make the exercise as real to life as possible, organizers created a fictional domestic terrorist group called the Liberty Militia. The terrorists, according to the scenario, were planning to place chemical weapons in high-traffic areas to stop the influx of illegal aliens, local law enforcement and FBI agents learned.
Other details emerged as the morning wore on Saturday. Two members of the terrorist group had created a chemical weapon, placed the mixture in 15-gallon plastic containers, and strapped a cell phone, batteries and explosives to the cylinders.
One of the suspects mistakenly thought an ambulance was an approaching police vehicle and detonated a cylinder, resulting in an explosion that officially called many of the first responders into action Saturday morning.
Teams from throughout the five counties arrived in real time, decontaminated the victims and processed patients, provided communications, logistics, documentation and security. Four actors playing victims walked into emergency rooms in St. George and Cedar City hospitals for treatment.
The Salt Lake Urban Search and Rescue Task Force, the same team that assisted in the aftermath of 9/11 at Ground Zero in New York City, was deployed and on the road within six hours of their call to duty. Two semi-trailer trucks, full of equipment to set up a field hospital, were unloaded and ready for patients within two hours of arrival in Cedar City.
Utah National Guard troops also came to support the regional team.
"We're going to be the cavalry for these guys. We'll help out whenever we're needed," said Lt. Col. Bart D. Berry, director of the Utah National Guard's Military Support Unit in Salt Lake City. "We're here to help detect and deter. We want to be relevant and ready. The role we've always played in homeland security is one of support."
Dean Cox, regional response team chairman and Washington County Emergency Services director, said the concept of pulling resources together on a regional basis makes perfect sense.
"Collectively we can respond better and spend our resources more wisely," said Cox, pointing out that more than 250 people in the regional team are now trained to handle hazardous materials. Last year the task force received $1.6 million in federal grants to purchase equipment and provide training, he said.
"The purpose of this exercise is to help us find our deficiencies," Cox said. "This is the first chance we've had to bring these regional assets together. It's unprecedented."
Evaluations conducted during the exercise and other information gleaned from debriefing sessions over the next few days will be compiled in a report. A grant from the Office for Domestic Preparedness funded the exercise.
E-mail: nperkins@infowest.com