DISASTER DRILL A `SUCCESS' TWELVE 'DIE' IN ATTACK SIMULATION.

Byline: Nicholas Grudin Staff Writer

GLENDALE - In a rehearsal for disaster Thursday in downtown Glendale, 12 people - including a firefighter - ``died,'' nearly 1,600 people safely fled a high-rise and a mock pipe bomb was disarmed before it exploded.

Organizers of Thursday's chemical warfare simulation at the Nestle building concluded that the more than 40 agencies involved were well- prepared for a real attack.

``The exercise was a complete success,'' said Glendale Fire Capt. Tom Marchant. ``We accomplished everything we set out to do and we learned a lot.'' The daylong Chemical Weapons Full Scale Exercise, which closed several busy Glendale streets near the 800 block of North Brand Avenue and involved the evacuation of the 22-story building, assumed the release of a potentially deadly chemical after an explosion.

During the drill, emergency teams effectively evacuated 1,600 Nestle employees, including 200 ``victims'' who had to be sprayed down and stripped because of the chemical release.

The exercise was part of a $280,000 grant from the Department of Justice's Domestic Preparedness Program. The grants were awarded to 120 U.S. cities viewed as potential terror targets by the Department of Justice. A biological attack simulation will be held next summer, according to Bud Marshall of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Plans and funding for the exercise were in the works before the 9-11 terrorist attacks, but the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon reinforced the effort, organizers said.

Thursday's relatively low ``fatality count'' was evidence of rescue teams' preparedness, Marshall said.

Ten ``deaths'' had been forecast; 12 occurred in the drill.

Response teams' vigilance helped avoid further casualties when a pipe bomb planted beneath the central command unit was discovered.

Authorities also were credited with apprehending a female ``suspect'' during the exercise.

The drill did reveal some weaknesses, Marshall said.

First responders were slowed getting into the building and helping debilitated victims because the evacuees were clogging the hallways and staircases, Marshall said.

Marshall added that rushing into a building isn't always the right thing to do.

``If you think back to the World Trade Center, putting responders into the building too fast can be a mistake as well,'' he said.

Thursday's drill was among the most extensive yet performed, said Comdr. Daniel Weber of the California National Guard Civil Support Team.

Exercise evaluator Cole Emerson, founder of CEA Inc., a risk assessment company hired by Nestle to evaluate Thursday's drill, was impressed with the response.

``The coordination of all of these agencies was absolutely amazing. I've been in the business for 27 years, and this was an extraordinary exercise,'' Emerson said.

During the exercise, Marchant spoke to onlookers over a loudspeaker as Nestle employees streamed out of a back door of the high-rise, pretending to suffer the effects of a chemical release. One man lay on the ground twitching.

Other Nestle ``victims'' gagged loudly as they were washed down by a wide-spraying fire hose and stripped to their undergarments.

Nestle officials viewed the exercise as an opportunity to prepare their business in case of emergency.

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Photo:

'Victims' of Thursday's simulated attack are hosed down by the Glendale Fire Department.

Gene Blevins/Staff Photographer