Emergency responders will take part in a large scale disaster drill Tuesday -- staging mock disasters at sites in the Bay Area and in Sacramento.
As part of the Golden Guardian 2005 exercise, the Tower Bridge will be shut down and some buildings will be evacuated. According to a news release from the Sacramento Fire Department, the most visible events that will happen on the bridge include an explosion and commercial vehicle fires.
"That's probably the most important piece of this, is putting our own skills to use in an incident we normally we go to out of town, either the Gulf Coast, East Coast, Oklahoma City," said Sacramento Metro Fire Capt. Steve Turner. "Now, we're doing it right here in town. It's a major incident, involves all of the partners ... and we're using our own tools to take care of our neighborhoods."
"Training and exercises are critical to making sure that we are prepared, that we test our systems," said Matthew Bettenhausen of the Department of Homeland Security.
The Tower Bridge will be close from 8:30 a.m. until 2 p.m. Tuesday. Drivers are advised to take alternate routes during that time.
In the Bay Area, emergency crews will be responding to a mock, mass casualty terrorist event in the parking lot of the Oakland Coliseum.
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