500 emergency responders participate in "Operation Transit Safe"

Surrounded by paramedics and heavily armed-and-outfitted police officers, more than 300 people were evacuated from a smoke-filled Bowling Green subway station early Sunday morning -- though they looked more sleepy than scared.

The participants were part of "Operation Transit Safe," an emergency exercise meant to test the capabilities and responses of city, state, and federal agencies. It was put together by the Office of Emergency Management (OEM), who pre-assigned participants (mostly probationary firefighters and other city workers) as either "evacuees" or "victims" with specific medical conditions.

Funded by the Department of Homeland Security, the four-hour drill began around 5 a.m. with a "level-one mobilization," which calls all available police and emergency units to a target area.

Firefighters practice their rescue training

More than 500 emergency responders had the chance to practice their rescue training inside the Bowling Green station, where a mock explosion and smoke machines created a real-time disaster scenario.

In a press conference following the operation, newly appointed OEM Commissioner Joseph Bruno explained that the drill began with a fire alarm from inside the station, where two trains were stopped. The supposed cause of the simulated explosion was a standard rather than biochemical bomb, and emergency crews rushed in to free victims trapped by debris, assist the "walking wounded," and help evacuate other "riders." Medical examiners and police detectives then examined victims as they emerged from the station, while fire marshals, Department of Environmental Protection officials, and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents surveyed the station and its surroundings.

With virtually all streets closed within a half-mile of Battery Park, the exercise brought together more than 21 agencies and partners -- from the Red Cross to Con Ed to the Port Authority -- along with special crisis divisions including the NYPD's Emergency Services and Hazardous Materials Units and the FDNY's Collapse Rescue Unit.

Evaluators from each agency assessed their team's performances and protocols throughout the operation, and, as in a real emergency situation, an incident command center and operations post were immediately set up as home base for department chiefs.

"Overall I think the exercise was a good one, and we learned that the agencies coordinate very well," said Bruno. Coincidentally, he noted, during the exercise an actual "suspicious package" was found in the station -- prompting a pause in the exercise while a bomb squad investigated. (The package turned out to be a box of old clothes.)

Field operations like this one take place several times a year in New York City, such as the March 14 drill at Shea Stadium, which called on emergency crews to practice mass rescue and evacuation techniques for a large-scale attack. Yesterday's operation was one of the few to heavily involve the Metropolitan Transit Authority, which volunteered the downtown 4/5 subway station, already closed for scheduled maintenance.

City officials address the media  following the exercise

"With more than seven million people traveling on our subways and buses every day, it is essential that we are prepared for any emergency in the mass-transit system," the mayor said.  "Operation Transit Safe gives us an opportunity to evaluate our emergency management procedures and how responders would deal with a terrorist attack in our subway system."

"It was a good exercise, and we learned a lot," he added. "And it's not the last of many more to come."