VIDEO: It’s a day they hope never comes, but one they must be ready to meet. First responders from around Puget Sound trained Tuesday for a potential multi-site terror attack on greater Seattle. The focus of the training was to make sure that everyone in the air and on the ground was communicating. “Everybody being on the same page, getting them talking together, getting the assignment of the missions flowing, and getting everybody effective and efficient,” said Einar Espeland, a Snohomish County deputy who ran the operation. “That’s what it’s all about.” Among the targets in the mock attack was a skyscraper in downtown Seattle.
A helicopter carrying a Seattle Fire Department high-rise rescue team launched to pull people from the simulated wreckage. That helicopter talked to a ground crew huddled around laptops in a mobile Seattle Police communications headquarters where local, county, state and federal teams were tracked and coordinated. “It’s difficult to try to get everybody to communicate with the command busses, the different agencies, the aircraft,” said Espeland. “It’s a lot to figure out.” The crews were training for real-life scenarios, and for a few minutes during the drill, real life happened. A 911 call came in about a missing child with autism in the Snohomish area.
