First responders stage TRAX terror attack to hone cooperation

SALT LAKE CITY — Around 8 a.m. Sunday, three gunmen took control of a TRAX train at EnergySolutions Arena. When it reached the intermodal hub at 250 S. 600 West, a bomb exploded and scores of bloody, shocked passengers filed out.

Fortunately, it was just a drill.

As these and other challenges arose, first responders from the Salt Lake police and fire departments, the Utah Transit Authority and 17 other agencies worked together to communicate and react.

Even the law enforcement officers who participated in the training exercise, involving more than 100 volunteers and almost a year of planning, did not know what might happen next.

The scenario, based loosely on the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack, moved quickly into a hostage situation as the fake perpetrators strapped another "bomb" to a woman on an adjacent FrontRunner train. A police radio crackled with a report that a UTA officer was down.

Meanwhile, a bomb squad robot was deployed to examine a suspicious package in the station's parking lot, while paramedics routed victims to a nearby triage area.

A SWAT team finally surrounded the FrontRunner train and defused the situation.

Salt Lake Police Chief Chris Burbank said his department "learned a little" from the Trolley Square shooting in February 2007, especially the need to establish a unified command center instead of having officers act on their own initiative. But he said basic emergency procedures and strategies have remained the same.

"It's all about sharing information and getting it out to all the resources we have available," Burbank said. "Nothing happens in this valley now that we don't bring in multiple agencies to help."

A similar drill was held in 2008 at West High School.

Also participating were the Transportation Security Administration, the state and federal homeland security departments, Unified Fire Authority, Unified Police Department, Union Pacific Railroad Police and several other local agencies.

e-mail: pkoepp@desnews.com