This weekend, disaster exercises were held in three suburban Baltimore area counties as part of REFLEX 2003, an exercise designed to stress and test the area's emergency medical services system while evaluating new and existing regional and statewide procedures.
Sunday afternoon's peaceful sunshine was pierced around 1 p.m. by a terrorist attack in the rolling farmland of the Pleasant Valley area in Carroll County. Units responding to a report of a victim down in a driveway found multiple victims of a terrorist attack and a building fire at a farm.
As additional units arrived, the scene quickly progressed to a full hazardous materials/MCI incident as numerous victims, including emergency personnel, were overcome by a chemical substance.
Operations also took place in Harford County on Saturday and Howard County on Sunday.
Hosting agencies included the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems (MIEMS), the Maryland Emergency Management Agency, the Maryland Hospital Association, and numerous response agencies from the area.
