SNOHOMISH COUNTY—The Northwest Regional Aviation consortium will be conducting an emergency response exercise—a terrorist attack—in several locations throughout Snohomish County on Thursday, June 13, 2024. The exercise will be based out of the Arlington Municipal Airport beginning at 9 a.m.

Aircraft from Snohomish, King, Pierce and Spokane County Sheriff’s Departments, along with the Washington State Patrol, U.S. Navy, FBI, Customs Border Patrol Air-Marine, Airlift Northwest, and Life Flight Network will be coordinating joint response efforts. 

Seattle Police, Seattle Fire, Snohomish County Fire Technical Rescue, Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management, Sky Valley Fire, Snohomish and King County Volunteer Search & Rescue Organization, Arlington Municipal Airport, Providence Regional Medical Center, Everett Fire & EMS, Sno911, and WSDOT-Aviation will all be supporting the regional aircraft response.

Overall Scenario: A coordinated terrorist attack at multiple locations is the scenario used for the exercise. Major damage has taken place in a few key government buildings. Supporting scenarios for the exercise include water rescues, high-rise rescues, K-9 building searches, aerial surveys of impacted areas, live video downlink operations, rescue teams, and equipment transport to support structural collapse.

Northwest Regional Aviation has learned from real-world emergency response that knowing the capabilities of partner agencies, and who to call for assistance is critical when large-scale emergencies happen. Having pre-plans in place and the knowledge of how to execute the pre-plans greatly helps in an organized response to a large-scale emergency.