Simulated terror attack on bay tests local emergency response

Firefighters, medics and FBI agents swarmed a normally quiet stretch of the Alameda waterfront next to the USS Hornet Museum on Wednesday morning, maneuvering around people lying on the ground as an ominous orange smoke filled the air and brightly colored emergency vehicles crowded the road.

The alarming scene was part of a two-day exercise called “Operation Seasick” — six months in the making and organized by the FBI — to practice how local, state and federal law-enforcement agencies and emergency responders would work together in the event of a complex terror attack involving weapons of mass destruction in an area like the Port of Oakland.

The simulation scenario was this: A terrorist deployed a chemical weapon using a dispersal device, shot several people from atop one of the ships at port, then barricaded himself inside the ship.

“Shooting victims” painted with red makeup to imitate blood and gore demanded attention from paramedics, but responders needed to deal with the chemical weapon before getting to them.

Maritime environments like ports can add challenging variables for law-enforcement agents responding to a crisis, according to the FBI.

Responding to a complex terror attack requires cooperation from agencies that rarely work together on a daily basis, so practice is important, according to John Bennett, special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Francisco bureau.

“We do a lot of work with police departments, but in a chemical release, we start bringing in elements that we don’t normally have relationships with — the health department, say,” said Bennett.

An attack on a shipping hub like the Port of Oakland could be economically disruptive in addition to the obvious threat to public safety, counterterrorism experts at the Rand Corp. and other think tanks have speculated.