Vernon Hosting Major Disaster Exercise on Aug. 15

Don't be alarmed if you hear about or come across a major disaster scene at Rockville High School on Aug. 15. 

It's only a drill. 

But it's also as close to the real thing as it gets. 

Vernon is hosting a major, regional mass casualty disaster exercise on Thursday, Aug. 15, between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., on the RHS campus. The drill is entitled "I.M.P.A.C.T. 2013" for "Integrated Municipal Preparedness and Collaborative Training."

Vernon police and emergency management officials said the event will be a "full-scale exercise" that will involve dozens of patients with moulaged injuries and props to make the scene as realistic as possible.  

The drill will involve a response of more than 100 police officers, fire officials, EMS responders and school officials from across the region, Vernon Police Department Lt. William Meier and Vernon Emergency Management Director Michael Purcaro said.

Emergency personnel will be applying triage tags, setting up treatment areas and transporting patients from the scene, they said.

The event is being staged in conjunction with the Capitol Region Council of Governments, which has provided partial funding for the exercise. "Subject-matter" experts from across the region will be participating to direct and evaluate the exercise, Meier and Purcaro said.

Media crews will have access to the exercise scene.