Operation Mountain Guardian exercise on Friday, September 23, 2011.
Operation Mountain Guardian is a full-scale, multi-jurisdictional exercise that will take place at several locations in the Denver metro area.
The exercise will focus on the emergency response to multiple terrorism-based incidents and will include more than 80 law enforcement, fire, EMS, hospital and emergency management agencies. Volunteer participation opportunities include exercise support staff (help with set-up, registration, logistics, demobilization, etc.) and actors/role players.
"The overall Operation Mountain Guardian exercise objectives are...
Public Safety & Security Response: Evaluate the ability to establish scene security and crime scene preservation,
coordinate a multi-jurisdictional response, and manage intelligence information in order to mitigate the effects of the event..."NEWS ADVISORYContact: Lynn Kimbrough at
lmk@denverda.org (720-913-9025)
Operation Mountain Guardian Emergency Exercise
September 23, 2011
Operation Mountain Guardian is a terrorism-based, full-scale emergency exercise scheduled to take
place in numerous locations in the Denver metro area on Friday, September 23, 2011. The exercise
will involve first responders from 81 different agencies**, will be conducted at ten separate locations
and will include loud noises, simulated weapons, smoke, emergency vehicles and other equipment
that will be audible and visible throughout the day.
The purpose of this advisory is to provide information that can be disseminated to the public ahead of
time to avoid confusion or concern on exercise day, as well as to invite media coverage of the event.
• Operation Mountain Guardian will be held at the following locations throughout the Denver
Metropolitan area:
• A Public Information Officer will be available at each primary location to coordinate safe access
for media representatives and provide information. A Denver Joint Information Center PIO will
also be available at 720-865-7695.
o MEDIA: Please contact the Joint Information Center or on site PIO for inquiries related
to this exercise (not individual agencies). Media inquiries not associated with this event
should continue to be directed to the appropriate agency.
• The exercise has been designed as a learning event for regional first responders to test their
capabilities in a scenario that will involve a terrorist-driven catastrophic situation. Exercise play
will occur at the four primary sites and DIA. Catholic Charities and Sports Authority Field at
Mile High will participate in an administrative fashion to test student/teacher processing
activities. Sky Ridge Medical Center, Denver Health Medical Center, and University of
Colorado Hospital will participate for the purpose of testing medical surge capabilities and
communicating within Incident Command.
• The exercise is scheduled to begin at 0500 hours and end by 1630 hours.
Primary Locations
1. Park Meadows Mall
2. Smedley Elementary School
3. Denver Union Station
4. Community College of Aurora
(Lowry Campus)
Secondary Locations
5. Denver International Airport
6. Sky Ridge Medical Center
7. Denver Health Medical Center
8. University of Colorado Hospital
9. Catholic Charities (NW Denver)
10. Sports Authority Field at Mile High
NEWS ADVISORY: Operation Mountain Guardian (continued)
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND• Operation Mountain Guardian is a terrorism-based full-scale exercise sponsored by the North
Central All-Hazards Emergency Management Region, Denver Urban Area Security Initiative,
and Front Range Metropolitan Medical Response System. The exercise is a Homeland
Security Grant funded event made possible due to grant funding from the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) through FEMA Region VIII and the State of Colorado Governor’s
Office of Homeland Security.
• The North Central All-Hazards Emergency Management Region is one of nine emergency
preparedness and response Regions within the State of Colorado. The North Central Region
(NCR) is organized around ten counties: Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Clear Creek,
Denver, Douglas, Elbert, Gilpin and Jefferson.
• One purpose of the NCR is to improve Region-wide emergency preparedness, response and
homeland security capabilities through coordinated planning, training and exercise efforts.
This exercise is evidence of the growing public safety partnership between regional emergency
response agencies.
• Operation Mountain Guardian is part of a Regional Training and Exercise Plan established in
2009. Planning for Operation Mountain Guardian began in January 2010 and has included
several building-block events designed to prepare responders to effectively participate in the
full-scale exercise.
• The overall Operation Mountain Guardian exercise objectives are:
1. Communications: Assess the ability to establish and maintain multi-agency and multijurisdictional
communications in response to a terrorism incident.
2. Hazmat Response and Decontamination: Evaluate the capability to coordinate multiple
hazmat response teams and assess their ability to perform initial response actions.
3. Public Safety & Security Response: Evaluate the ability to establish scene security and
crime scene preservation, coordinate a multi-jurisdictional response, and manage
intelligence information in order to mitigate the effects of the event.
4. Explosive Device Response Operations: Evaluate the capability to manage and coordinate
explosive device response operations using regional bomb squad teams.
5. Onsite Incident Management: Evaluate the ability to implement the Incident Command
System (ICS) and establish multi-jurisdictional command and control.
6. Triage and Pre-Hospital Treatment: Examine the ability of EMS to provide effective prehospital
emergency medical care in response to a terrorism incident.
7. Medical Surge: Evaluate medical surge capability at area hospitals.
• While Operation Mountain Guardian is primarily a Homeland Security Grant funded exercise,
the event will also rely heavily on local government emergency response agencies, military
organizations, volunteer organizations as well as local charitable organizations.
**The following agencies are expected to participate:1 84th Civil Support Team 51 Golden Police Department
2 Action Care 52 Greenwood Village Police Department
3 Adams County Office of Emergency Management 53 Jefferson County Office of Emergency
Management
4 Adams County Sheriff's Office 54 Jefferson County Public Health
5 Adcom 911 55 Jefferson County Sheriff's Office
6 American Medical Response 56 Lafayette Fire Dept
7 Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office 57 Lakewood Police Department
8 Arvada Fire Department 58 Larkspur Fire Department
9 Arvada Police Department 59 Littleton Fire Department
10 Aurora Fire Department 60 Littleton Police Department
11 Aurora MMRS 61 Lone Tree Police Department
12 Aurora Office of Emergency Management 62 Longmont Fire
13 Aurora Police Department 63 Longmont Police Department
14 Aurora Public Safety Communications 64 Louisville Fire Department
15 Boulder County Sheriff's Office 65 Louisville Police Department
16 Boulder Fire Department 66 Metropolitan Area Communications Center
17 Boulder Police Department 67 Mountain View Fire Dept
18 Brighton Fire Protection District 68 National Disaster Medical System
19 Brighton Police Department 69 North Central Region
20 Broomfield Police Department 70 North Metro Fire Rescue District
21 Buckley AFB Fire Department 71 North Washington Fire
22 Castle Rock Fire Department 72 Northglenn Ambulance
23 Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment 73 Northglenn Police Department
24 Colorado Division of Emergency Management 74 Office of Bombing Prevention
25 Colorado Information Analysis Center 75 Park Meadows Mall
26 Colorado Office of Information Technology 76 Parker Police Department
27 Community College of Aurora 77 Platte Valley Medical Center
28 Cunningham Fire Protection District 78 Porter Adventist Hospital
29 Denver 911 79 Presbyterian St. Luke's Hospital
30 Denver Electronic Engineering Bureau 80 Regional Transportation District
31 Denver Fire Department 81 Rural Metro Ambulance
32 Denver Health & Hospital Authority 82 Sable Altura Fire Department
33 Denver Health Paramedic Division 83 Salvation Army
34 Denver International Airport 84 Sheridan Police Department
35 Denver MMRS 85 Sky Ridge Medical Center
36 Denver Office of Emergency Management 86 South Adams County Fire
37 Denver Parks & Recreation 87 South Metro Fire Rescue Authority
38 Denver Police Department 88 St. Anthony's Hospital
39 Denver Public Schools 89 St. Anthony Summit Medical Center
40 Denver Sheriff's Department 90 St. Joseph Hospital
41 Denver UASI 91 Swedish Medical Center
42 Douglas County Office of Emergency Management 92 Thornton Fire Department
43 Douglas County Sheriff's Office 93 Thornton Police Department
44 Englewood Fire 94 Tri-County Health Department
45 Englewood Police Department 95 University of Colorado Hospital
46 Environmental Protection Agency 96 VA Hospital
47 Fairmount Fire 97 West Metro Fire Department
48 Federal Bureau of Investigation 98 Western Ambulance
49 Federal Protective Service 99 Westminster Police Department
50 Franktown Fire Department 100 Wheat Ridge Fire Department
101 Wheat Ridge Police Department
Note: Media viewing is limited to outside areas. Please contact on-site PIO.
http://disclose.tv/forum/isn-t-this-the-same-day-as-obama-is-supposed-to-be-in-denver-t59418.html
Meanwhile, family will be on a jet plane to California on the 29th while I stay home and tend the tomatoes.