The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Two days before the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, as many as 10,000 people marched out of City Hall, police headquarters and other downtown buildings Thursday in one of the city’s largest-ever disaster drills.
Seven government buildings, including some high-rises, were evacuated to designated safe areas in the massive one-hour drill. Evacuations were completed in as little as eight minutes and as long as 16 minutes, city fire department Assistant Chief Greg Gibson said.
Among the buildings evacuated were City Hall, the city’s police department headquarters and the downtown federal building. As many as 20,000 people had been expected to take part in the drill but many employees stayed home, authorities said.
“Someone said to me when we were out there, ‘You know if there’s a real emergency, everyone’s going to run in all directions,”’ said Holly Beckner, a supervisor in the city attorney’s office who was responsible for evacuating 80 employees. “I disagree. I think that now that we’ve done it once, everybody will know where to go.”
Local and federal employees were notified of the drill far in advance and some brought water bottles, lawn chairs, bag lunches and even portable video game consoles.
Dave Margolias, a contractor who was among those evacuated, called the drill inconvenient but understandable.
“It’s a necessary evil,” he said. “If you don’t do this, you won’t be prepared when something really happens.”
His colleague Wayne Fritz joked of the drill, “It got me out of a meeting I didn’t want to go to.”
Mayor James Hahn and Fire Chief William Bamattre on Wednesday proposed changing the fire code to require a full evacuation every three years of the 22 commercial structures in the city that are 35 stories or taller. The current code requires yearly drills on individual floors, but not such full-scale evacuations.
The City Council would have to approve such changes.
Meanwhile, dozens of firefighters and police in San Diego staged a drill testing their response to a terror attack. During the 20-minute drill in the Miramar area, they fought simulated gunbattles, stormed a prop building and defused mock explosives.
“It should be a very strong statement to the community of San Diego that we’re prepared for any event, and we can manage those,” Police Chief William Lansdowne said.