CITIES, AGENCIES TEST CONTINGENCY PLANS FOR Y2K.

Byline: Phillip W. Browne Staff Writer

Preparing for the worst on New Year's Eve, 53 cities joined police, firefighters and Los Angeles County emergency workers in a secret bunker Wednesday to test their readiness.

They practiced a variety of hypothetical scenarios: roadways jammed from massive celebrations and traffic lights disabled by scattered power outages. Hospitals packed with injured revelers and mothers expecting millennium babies. Downed communications. Panicky customers mobbing groceries, gas stations and banks.

``Anything could happen, from mass suicides to civil disturbances to parties that get out-of-hand,'' said Roy Pugh, assistant manager of the county's Emergency Operations Center. ``There could even be false rumors that cause panic.

``We don't have any reason to think Y2K will cause significant problems, but we need to be prepared for the worst.''

In a massive daylong test, officials activated the county's Emergency Operations Center and played out 40 possible scenarios that could happen when the clock strikes midnight on Jan. 1. More than 50 county departments, 15 utility companies and emergency response teams participated in Wednesday's test, which took 10 months to develop and coordinate, said Joyce Harris, spokeswoman for the Office of Emergency Management.

County Supervisor Don Knabe said he doesn't want Wednesday's exercise, or any other millennial fervor, to concern people.

``I want people to have a good New Year's Eve - to party, wake up, take an aspirin - and not to panic,'' Knabe said. ``These scenarios are so the county can be prepared. We hope people will just act normal.''

Much of that preparedness is to make sure as much of the county's infrastructure remains intact in the event of Y2K or civil problems.

``The test is to make sure contingency plans will work to continue services in the event of major disruptions,'' Harris said. ``And if something in this test emerges that we haven't considered, to make new plans for that.''

The exercise was split into three phases, which included scenarios for New Year's Eve, New Year's Day and Jan. 3, the first work day after the holiday.

Representatives from the Los Angeles Police Department, the Army National Guard, utility companies, the American Red Cross and scores of other agencies manned computer terminals during the test and responded to the mock incidents.

All those involved in Wednesday's test are the same people who will staff the center throughout the holiday weekend.

``Right now I'm tracking power outages in Whittier, Hidden Hills, Topanga and Diamond Bar,'' said Edison Co. response coordinator Maryann Reyes, sitting in the position she will be assigned New Year's Eve. ``My job is to gather the information and get it to repair crews.''

The National Guard had three officers manning computers, and by midmorning they had not been called into the exercise.

``We will be called in when city and county resources are stretched to the maximum,'' said Sgt. First Class Leroy Pope, adding the National Guard's resources will be distributed throughout the state. ``This operation is a fine-tuned machine and this is a great opportunity for us to test our response and dispatching.''

While the Y2K problem is of little concern to county crews, they're not so confident about the people buying into the craze.

``We're very concerned about public perception,'' said county spokeswoman Constance Perett. ``We could fix everything and if the public doesn't know it or believe it, the public could cause the problems. I hope everyone will just relax.''

Officials plan to release an analysis of the test later this week.