March 26, 2006 — Staged at the Maspeth Rail Yard in Queens, the TRIFECTA field exercise was designed to test the City's response to a chemical incident. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office of Domestic Preparedness and hosted by the Office of Emergency Management (OEM), TRIFECTA tested the execution of the Citywide Incident Management System (CIMS), specifically the city's hazardous materials response, first responder safety, decontamination and fatality management.
FDNY leads victim to the Decontamination unit, away from the accident. |
NYPD professionals sniff out perpetrators on freight train.
|
The scenario: The drill began at 10 a.m. with a 911 call to alert the City's fire and police departments to an explosion on a freight train. The first responders arrived on the scene and immediately found wounded passengers from a commuter train traveling in the opposite direction.
The exercise: Drawing participants from more than 25 City and partner agencies, TRIFECTA focused primarily on emergency response coordination, critical decision-making, and the integration of CIMS. Exercise players were challenged to establish an effective command element in accordance with CIMS. Nearly 1,000 responders created search and rescue teams, decontamination and fatality management centers, and disseminated accurate information to media and the public.
The workshop: On March 8, OEM hosted a tabletop workshop to test a scenario in which the newly-established Unified Victim Identification System (UVIS) would activate. This system streamlines the tracking of missing persons in a mass casualty incident. In the event of such an emergency, friends and family members will be urged by the NYPD or the Mayor to direct their calls to 311. At this time, precincts will stop taking missing persons reports and refer all people to 311.
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS:
- American Red Cross of Greater NY
- Federal Bureau of Investigation
- Federal Emergency Management Agency
- Greater New York Hospital Association
- Metropolitan Transportation Authority
- MTA Long Island Rail Road
- MTA Police Department
- National Transportation Safety Board
- New York and Atlantic Railway
- NYC Community Emergency Response Teams
- NYC Department of Environmental Protection
- NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
- NYC Department of Information
Technology and Telecommunications
- NYC Police Department
- NYC Fire Department
- NYC Fire Department-Emergency Medical Service
- NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation
- NYC Mayor's Office
- NYC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner
- NYC Office of Emergency Management
- NYS Emergency Management Office
- Port Authority of NY and NJ
- Regional Emergency Medical Services Council
- The Salvation Army
- US Department of Homeland Security
