SNOHOMISH — A “disgruntled employee” ran around with a gun and a camouflage bulletproof vest Wednesday north of Snohomish, pointing the barrel at people around him.
But the blue plastic gun was just a prop. The entire scene was fake.
Twenty police and fire agencies came together in the rain to act out an active shooter scenario at the Ray Lee Brown training facility, 6425 S. Machias Road.
“I like training like this,” said Andrew Sunagel, who role-played the part of the “active shooter.” “The more you train, the more fluid you get. The more realistic it becomes, the better it is for everybody.”
The mass casualty training exercise took a massive amount of coordination, largely handled by Providence Regional Medical Center Everett trauma surgeon Joshua Corsa and Snohomish County Fire District 4 Medical Services Officer Neil Broumley.
Corsa, a former EMT, has seen the aftermath of too many mass shootings. Referencing the Marysville-Pilchuck shooting in 2014, Corsa says a region as big as Snohomish County is inevitably prone to disaster.
“We don’t do this often enough,” Corsa said. “We’ve seen a lot of these both in the real world, as well as exercise, and we never do as good a job as we can do in terms of realism and scope.”
Earlier this year, Snohomish County agencies participated in another regional disaster scenario, simulating an earthquake.
Participants from the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue and other agencies referred to Wednesday’s exercise as “organized chaos.”
“A drill versus real life will always be different,” Northwest Incident Support Director Julie Boyers said. “But having the multi-agency response is critical in the drill. Then they will be able to work together in real life.”
Corsa prepared for 30 to 50 civilian volunteers to participate in the scenario. Over 80 showed up.
“Patients” were placed around the training center, made to look like a common street block. Before the simulation began, volunteers walked around wearing makeup that looked like something out of a horror movie.
The scenario began with the “active shooter” running across the facility and into a four-story training tower.
Inside, some patients were on the floor “deceased” and others were “injured,” with fake gunshot wounds. “Panicked bystanders” stood outside, looking for missing loved ones.
Region 1 SWAT team members made their way into the building and “neutralized” the shooter on the top floor. Responders evacuatd the patients as ambulances arrived on scene. “Patients” staggered out leaning on each others’ shoulders, yelling for help, some giving performances that would make an Oscar winner blush.
Medics loaded the “injured” into ambulances and reunited the fictional families.
Afterward, the “dead” headed inside for burgers and hot dogs.
Inside, elementary school student Chloe Dallon said her family let her miss school to participate.
“It was kind of scary, hearing the yells,” Chloe said. “But the (responders) were really nice.”
Corsa wants to hold a regional training exercise each year, with the goal of recreating a different disaster each time.
“For the future, it will be really critical for all of the Snohomish County units to be able to practice together so we can continue to work together well,” Boyers said. “Because unfortunately, it’s not if, it’s when.”
Maya Tizon: 425-339-3434; maya.tizon@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @mayatizon.
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