By Nate Jones
Staff Writer


The Thomas Room in South Portland is often filled with a murmur generated by large crowds in conversation, and on Tuesday the discussion wasn’t about a newlywed couple, anniversary or birthday, but rather weapons of mass destruction.
Police, fire, military and communication personnel joined medical first responders from across York and Cumberland counties for a “tabletop” major weapons of mass destruction emergency exercise in preparation for a field demonstration in September.
 “This tabletop demonstration kind of helps set the stage,” South Portland Director of Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Jeff Temple said
While the EMA practices a full-scale exercise every year – setting off “bombs” near the Maine Mall and practicing rescuing injured civilians from the fields surrounding the Portland Jetport last year – this is the first tabletop demonstration since 2005.
The training sessions are sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which separated the state into different response regions. Cumberland and York County make up Region One.
Temple said this year’s tabletop session presented new challenges to town and city emergency service providers, including how to handle hazardous material and public safety disasters, communication and intelligence breakdowns as well as a sudden surge of medical patients.
“Everything’s going to go to hell in a hand basket at the same time,” Temple said before presenting Region One with its first disaster scenario.
The first of three disaster scenarios “designed to overstress the system,” to Region One concerned the theft of several explosives by a terrorist group determined to bomb the Republican and Democratic national conventions.
South Portland Police Chief Edward Googins wasted no time getting into the scenario.
“In this case, people would need to keep being informed,” he said. “Be vigilant, look for trucks and report it. It may be the information we need.”
Temple said the situation was similar to a real-life experience he had during the 2004 conventions, when he assisted officials in the arrest of a man who had obtained several explosive componants and was in the vicinity of the conventions.
“It is not a far fetched scenario at all,” he said.
As the situation evolved, police and firemen, communications dispatchers, EMA coordinators, National Guardsmen, Coast Guard officers and transportation officials – some of whom had just returned from the flooded Fort Kent area – left their respective tables and came together in a coordinated commotion to deal with the situation.
“A lot of it is command and control,” South Portland Fire Chief Kevin Guimond said. “This is what we train for.”
Guimond said it is crucial for residents to follow the direction of local authorities during a disaster, as they are most aware of what needs to happen.
“We’ve gotten away from the idea of ‘We’re going to open up the gymnasium and put everybody inside,’” he said. “The new school of thought is to shelter in place. If you stay home we can bring food and water to you and that’s an easier job for us most of the time.”
While representatives from Westbrook, Limington, Brunswick, Portland and South Portland represented more than 30 agencies at the session, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) was a no-show.
Temple said he wasn’t surprised.
“There are only a few FBI guys in the state and it’s not unusual that they get pulled away to deal with something real,” he said.
After surviving the six-hour tabletop session, authorities are looking forward to using lessons learned in a 30-hour real-life exercise scheduled to begin Sept. 19.
“We’ll have guys running around with guns, helicopters and explosives during the full-scale exercise,” Temple said.