The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) on Thursday, October 19 will be coordinating a full-scale training exercise designed to prepare the region from a potential large-scale incident. Emergency responders from the City of Atlanta and five metro Atlanta counties – Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, and Gwinnett – will participate in the exercise, which will take place at two vacant hotels near the I-20/Fulton Industrial interchange in southwest Atlanta. It’s the first training exercise of its size and scope to take place in metro Atlanta.

During the exercise, emergency personnel will respond in real-time to an explosion at one of the vacant hotels that is a suspected terrorist attack, causing structural damage, mass injuries, and mass fatalities. At the second vacant hotel, law enforcement, including SWAT and bomb teams, will pursue suspects and work to free hostages. Emergency personnel will face a fast-changing situation that will put their training to the test and identify any areas needing improvement.

“While local, state, and federal officials do everything they can to prevent major incidents like terrorist attacks, it’s critical that our region be prepared to respond should anything occur,” said Bernard Coxton, Director of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness at ARC. “Joint exercises such as this will also help train first responders from different jurisdictions to work together, just as they would have to do during a real emergency.”

To maximize training opportunities, the entire scenario will be run twice on Oct. 19: from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The former hotels will be hubs of activity, including the deployment of fire and police equipment and specialty teams.

“To the public’s eye, this will look like a real emergency. We are taking care to notify people living in the area, as well as schools and other nearby facilities, ahead of time about the training exercise to minimize any concerns during the day,” said Fulton County Police Chief Wade Yates.