D.C. Area Planning ‘Full Scale’ Terror Attack Drill Wednesday

Local governments in the Washington D.C. area will reportedly hold a “full-scale” terror attack drill Wednesday.

The drill is designed to prepare the area for an attack involving multiple locations and “teams of perpetrators” and will occur across six undisclosed locations in D.C., northern Virginia, and Maryland, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments announced in a press release.

Hundreds of volunteer actors, emergency medical personnel, police, and fire officials will participate in the drill.

“Law enforcement officials practice and exercise their skills on their own regularly because that’s the best way to ensure we are always ready to respond quickly and professionally,” Scott Boggs, the Council of Government’s Managing Director of Homeland Security and Public Safety, said in the release.

“On April 26, we’ll go one step further and stage a very realistic emergency event involving multiple sites and actors posing as the casualties. However, there is no reason for residents to be alarmed because the exercise will occur in a controlled environment,” Boggs added.

Officials say the drill will start at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday and go until afternoon.

The drill has been planned for more than a year and was designed as a way to “address terror attacks such as what unfolded in 2015 in Paris” in restaurants, cafes, and concert halls, Newsweek reported.