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Paris Sarin Drill Shows “Improvements” Needed, Says Police Chief
Paris police chief Jean-Paul Proust said today that a large-scale simulated sarin attack last night on the Paris Metro subway system yielded good results but demonstrated that “improvements” are needed (see GSN, Oct. 22). At a press conference this morning, Proust said Parisians “can be reassured” about their city’s capacity to respond to such an attack, because “they have emergency services of exceptional quality.” Proust added, though, that there is a “gap between the speed of the emergency services and the implementation of the logistics and sequence of treatment.” He said there were “difficulties” in putting up decontamination tents and a delay in treating victims but that first responders displayed “dexterity” and “good coordination,” in particular with nuclear, radiological, biological and chemical protective gear. Proust promised improvements in decontamination equipment and more training of personnel. He said a WMD unit would be created within the Paris fire department. The attack, which Proust said was of “medium importance,” caused 54 virtual casualties, including two deaths (Agence France-Presse/La Tribune, Oct. 23, GSN translation). About 500 first responders took part in the four-hour exercise, conducted at the Invalides station, near the National Assembly. “The point of this exercise is not to test the response time of the fire brigade … or the police; the aim of the exercise is, in real time, to see how all the rescue teams work together in a hostile environment, how coordination works under the Piratox emergency plan drawn up in the past year,” Proust said earlier (CNN.com, Oct. 23). Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said 50 additional exercises are scheduled to be held next year in other major French cities. “France has lagged in this field,” Sarkozy said. “We don’t pretend to have made up all the ground. Some countries are well ahead of us,” he added. The overnight exercise was not conducted in response to any specific terrorist threat, said Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, who attended the exercise. “There is no particular threat today of chemical terrorism in France,” Raffarin said. “There are always risks ... Our duty is to be able to cope with all eventualities and not just with plans and programs on paper,” he added (John Leicester, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Oct. 23).
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