By Kevin Lavery, KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – St. Louis city police and firefighters trained for disaster Wednesday in Forest Park.
About 350 first responders took part in a drill that simulated an explosion and chemical release during a concert at the Muny amphitheater.
Paramedics treated about 30 victims tagged with ID cards indicating their medical condition. St. Louis City Emergency Management Agency director Gary Christmann says the exercise was not meant to be flawless.
"If I leave out of here today and everything went according to a plan that we've already got established for the city of St. Louis, we haven't really tested ourselves," Christmann said. "What we want to find out is, are our responders trained adequately enough to respond to this type of an event. And a lot of times we will find those shortfalls."
Christmann says since Nine-Eleven, the city has taken separate departments and focused them into a coordinated, interagency response team.