What to do if a suicide bomber strikes in the heart of Baltimore was the question posed at an intense five-hour emergency preparedness drill on terrorism yesterday.
To show how seriously the computer-generated scenario was taken, Mayor Martin O'Malley and Police Commissioner Edward T. Norris were stationed in a secure hideaway called "the bunker."
Fighting fatigue because they had been called out after the fatal shooting early yesterday of Baltimore police Detective Thomas Newman, both men said they were determined to carry out the long-planned, "real time" drill.
"This is a great exercise and effort in making the city a harder target. This is something that every city with a port, infrastructure and railroad lines should do," O'Malley said, noting that Baltimore is the first city to pay for its own training program for terrorist incidents.
To cover the cost, the city paid $150,000 and the state $50,000, officials said. O'Malley was quick to point out that the federal government contributed nothing.
Another disaster-training exercise was held in July at University of Maryland Medical Center and Ravens Stadium.
Yesterday's drill took place mostly in a room set up as a command center at police headquarters. Participants sat at laptop computers and watched as events unfolded.
The simulation drew 70 high-ranking city officials from various branches of government, and closely followed a Justice Department and Army strategy to help agencies work together.
Because the Fire Department responds first as a rescue agency in emergencies, Fire Chief William J. Goodwin Jr. played a central role in the first critical moments.
In the simulation, it is a Friday in June, about lunchtime on a sunny day, when a bicyclist in the Inner Harbor amphitheater, a popular destination for strollers, sets off an explosion, killing 10 persons and wounding 45.
"Central District advises explosion in Inner Harbor, more information to follow," was the first message sent out to pagers of key city officials.
Then a twist was revealed. The bomb was "dirty," or radioactive. All victims would have to be decontaminated before they could be treated at city hospitals. So the Ravens Stadium parking lot quickly became the emergency decontamination site.
Representatives of three hospitals - Mercy Medical Center, Maryland Shock Trauma Center, and Johns Hopkins Hospital - attended the exercise to rehearse the emergency medical steps that would be followed.
Police Sgt. Charles D. Schneider, head of the bomb squad, said he would be one of the first to rush to the scene.
But according to the drill's scenario, something else goes wrong: Two snipers start shooting at Schneider and he is wounded. One of his bomb technicians has to take over command of the squad.
Schneider said he took away a valuable lesson from the drill: "It was revealed today to everyone how important [it is] to assess the whole situation before you run in and render aid."
The new, high-tech police mobile command unit sat idle during the simulation. Plans to establish an outdoor command unit during the exercise had to be scrapped because a number of officers were assigned to investigate Newman's killing.
Simulation leaders stressed a chain of command is essential for proper coordination in times of crisis.
"This is ground-breaking stuff," said Tony White, the mayor's press secretary, "applying the U.S. Army program to civilian defense."
White said the idea for yesterday's exercise originated with the city's "security council," which was established last fall and met frequently in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Julie A. Seton, a project leader with the Army's Training and Doctrine Command Analysis Center in New Mexico, said El Paso, Texas, and Alexandria, Va., are the only other cities that have conducted similar drills since the Sept. 11 attacks.