Regional police and fire departments took part in the first day of a two-day drill involving a multiple gunmen scenario at Bellevue High School Saturday.

Partnering agencies practiced their emergency response procedures during a multi-casualty exercise. The drill simulated four gunmen inside a high school, causing more than 100 injuries and a half-dozen simulated  deaths.

“This training brings in various agencies and disciplines to work together and is critical to our preparedness,” said Bellevue Police Department Deputy Chief Jim Jolliffe. “Very few agencies can handle a real event of this magnitude without the direct support of their regional partners.”

The weekend exercise demonstrates the ability of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) regional partner organizations to work together. The exercise tested the King County Multi Casualty Incident (MCI) plans, in addition to exercising the capabilities of multiple city and county bomb squads, and Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams.

Bellevue High School donated a condemned wing of its campus was for the emergency response drill. Law enforcement officers, firefighters, paramedics, and EMTs staged in the parking lot of the school before making entry into the school building.

The Bellevue School District was involved in the planning, along with Cornerstone Construction, the principal contractor for the new Bellevue High School.  Students from the Bellevue School District participated as mock patients in the exercise.

“The biggest thing is the people that are hurt need to get out fast,” said Bellevue High School Senior Brennan Wilkerson, who also participated as a mock patient,” It needs to be fast, it needs to be done right.”

Federal grant funds paid for this full-scale exercise.

The second half of the drill occurred Sunday, but it was not open to the public.