South King County fire firefighters and paramedics are participating in a series of mass causality drills this month at the ShoWare Center in Kent.

The first set of drills is occurring this week from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The next set of drills will occur the week of April 30, again from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Passersby should not be alarmed to see a large number of emergency vehicles at the ShoWare Center during the drills.

Fire departments throughout south King County as well the Redmond Fire Department and King County Medic One will be participating.

Members of King County Search and Rescue will be taking part in a training exercise today and tomorrow in the Maple Valley and Black Diamond areas.

Teams of searchers on the ground and in vehicles will be conducting mock missions on public and private lands in those areas, the King County Sheriff’s Office reports.

“It is likely that the public will see Search and Rescue Vehicle Teams on the roads around the Search Areas and Ground Teams on the trails conducting search, rescue and subject evacuation operations,” an advisory stated.

Nineteen first responder agencies will gather at Browns Point today to practice rescues in the water.

The exercise series should last from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

This is the fourth year the departments have practiced the drills together.

Participants will demonstrate hoisting victims into a helicopter and using boats for rescues. A subsurface dive rescue team will also join.

The exercise is intended to familiarize agencies with one another’s resources and learn how to better communicate in emergencies.

Agencies participating in the drills include Anderson Island Fire, Browns Point/Dash Point Fire, Central Pierce Fire and Rescue, Gig Harbor Fire …

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More than 50 people and a number of dog teams will participate in a search-team exercise Saturday outside Puyallup.

The exercise will run from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Randles Sand and Gravel Inc., 19209 Canyon Road E.

Members of the Washington Task Force Urban Search and Rescue will drill with Explorer Search and Rescue team members, Pierce County announced Friday.

Several agencies, including Sound Transit, Tacoma Rail and the Tacoma Fire Department, will be taking part in an emergency operations drill today at the Tacoma Rail Yard.

The drill is scheduled to begin this morning and end in the early afternoon, according to Sound Transit. The activity might be visible from state Route 509, the Fire Department reported.

Passenger rail service will not be affected by the exercise.

Seven Pierce County hospitals and other volunteers will be taking part in an exercise today to see how the health care system handles an incident that requires decontamination of patients before they are admitted to the hospital.

The training exercise is expected to last from 8:30 a.m. to noon, according to a press release from Pierce County.

Participating in today’s drill will be four MultiCare Health System facilities – Tacoma General, Good Samaritan, Mary Bridge Children’s and Allenmore hospitals – and three Franciscan Health System facilities – St. Joseph, St. Clare, and St. Anthony hospitals – as well as Tacoma-Pierce …

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It’s just a drill.

Central Pierce Fire & Rescue personnel and others are participating in a three-day domestic terrorism drill this week. The exercise began Monday and concludes Wednesday.

The drill involves a bomb detonating on a school bus. Fire crews will be working on their triage, treatment and transportation skills.

I heard some of this activity on the police scanner Monday. If you have a scanner, you might hear it as well. Just remember that it’s a drill.

Local fire agencies are participating in a training exercise this morning out in Spanaway.

According to scanner chatter, the exercise involves a plane crash. There is talk of “victims” and needing the “medical examiner.”

Again, this is ONLY a DRILL.

UPDATE: Air Force Master Sgt. Dean Miller said the training exercise is in preparation for the AMC Rodeo later this month.

The rodeo, which is not open to the public, will bring international and national Air Force teams to the base July 19-25 for a competition.

“In advance of the event we do different training

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