The emergency personnel, representing dozens of agencies, were gathered at Mathews Park to participate in Operation Region Ready, an exercise to evaluate the Connecticut Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security Region One's "Tactical Interoperability Communications Plan," according to a press release from Tad Diesel, Norwalk director of marketing and business development.

The exercise was a scaled-down, far less "sexy" version of the original exercise scheduled for October, which was canceled due to severe weather conditions, according to Philip Mikan, emergency preparedness program specialist with the Connecticut Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security. Unlike the full-scale exercise planned for October, no actual train or bloody actors were present to add a sense of realism to the scene. Therefore, the focus was primarily on testing communications between the responding individuals and agencies, explained Richard Fournier, Area 1 coordinator for the Connecticut Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.

According to Norwalk Fire Chief Denis McCarthy, another full-scale version of the exercise is planned for April.

In a briefing before Wednesday's event, McCarthy explained the three reasons behind the exercise. First, he said, the exercise allows responders to practice "unified command," which had been widely discussed but not yet "practiced to the extent that it's a seamless process when all these agencies represented here come on the scene some from nearby, some from far away, some from state and federal agencies."

Secondly, said McCarthy, the exercise tests the accountability systems which keep track of all the individuals aiding in a case of emergency on which the Fire Department has been working. "The Salamander System [for accountability] has been purchased by the state to be a tool for us to use in an incident much bigger than this. This is our opportunity to test that system. The Wilton Fire Department is the host of that equipment for the regional HAZMAT team and will then, as they become more proficient, be available to all of us regardless of which agency to run accountability on a large scale emergency," explained McCarthy.

Lastly and most importantly, he said, the exercise will test communications. "The 9/11 report said that communications was the number one issue that had to be resolved. While we do this kind of work every day, we are introducing systems that are far more complex than we've ever used before. And so the purpose of today's drill is to bring all that hardware and expertise together and put it into play so that when it does happen for real, we have the capability to bring it into play," McCarthy said.

Also during the briefing, Jim Hardy, exercise coordinator from the Connecticut Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, explained to participants, "There is no pass, there is no fail on this. What we're trying to do with this process is to determine if we've given you the right training, the right equipment and if our policies are those policies that are necessary. Do we need to adjust these policies? Because these are the three areas that are critical in any emergency response."

"This and the April exercise will really advance public safety," said McCarthy.

Numerous agencies were involved in the exercise. Norwalk's first responders were the Norwalk Fire and Police departments and Norwalk Hospital Emergency Medical Services. Mutual aid participants were Bridgeport Fire Department; Rowayton/Darien Fire Department; Fairfield County HAZMAT; New Canaan Volunteer Fire Department; Wilton's EMS, Fire and Police departments; Westport's EMS, Fire and Police departments; and Stamford Police Department Bomb Squad. Other On-Scene Agencies were the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police Department; Connecticut State Police-Troop G; Connecticut State Police- ESU, FBI; Connecticut Department of Transportation- Rail Ops; Metro North Ops; and the Transportation Security Administration.

Also involved as support staff were Wilton and New Canaan Community Emergency Response teams, the American Red Cross and the Metro North safety team. Off-site supporting players were the Norwalk Emergency Operation Center and Norwalk Dispatch.

According the Fournier, the various agencies utilize different communication hardware and different frequencies, making communication tricky. The goal then, he explained, is to have the communication means for effective "unified command, where we have all the major players, commanders from all different types of agencies working together." At the "worker bee level," the workers can only communicate within their own agency, explained Fournier. But the workers can communicate with their supervisors, who can then communicate with supervisors in other agencies.

On Sept. 12, the Common Council approved purchases by the Norwalk Fire Department of 13 mobile and 14 portable radios and peripheral equipment from Motorola, Inc. In a September telephone interview, Assistant Fire Chief Laurence Reilly explained that the radios currently used by the city's Fire Department operate on the VHF range, while the fire departments in all surrounding towns except New Canaan use the UHF range. Thus, in order to communicate with other towns during fire emergencies, the Norwalk Fire Department must upgrade to UHF range radios.

On Wednesday, McCarthy said that the city's Fire Department had not yet received the new radios in time for the exercise but that communications would be somewhat facilitated by their arrival.

Asked why the various agencies and municipalities don't simply adopt the same equipment and frequencies, McCarthy explained that to do so wasn't economically feasible. It would cost $6 $10 million just to change over all of Norwalk's agencies to one cohesive system, he said. In addition, he explained, it would be difficult for municipalities to agree on one system to use, as each prefers a different system based on its terrain and operational considerations.

McCarthy said that the exercise would be directed by Controllers and observed by Evaluators, who would then prepare a "hot wash" to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the participants and suggest possible corrections. The hot wash, held after the exercise, was closed to the public, but McCarthy and Fournier provided their evaluations both of which were positive to the Norwalk Citizen-News.

"We tested a number of different communications systems and they all seemed to work effectively, and that was a major objective of the exercise," Fournier said after the exercise was complete. "We're satisfied that the system is going to work."

McCarthy also said he was "satisfied." He added, "There's a commitment by every agency that was represented here and a recognition that communications is the key component to good incident management. The commitment is to provide resources and personnel to make that work in a large scale incident because no one community has all the resources and personnel necessary to put great unified command or communications unit into play."