Pittsburgh Technical Institute Students Participate In Disaster Drill

OAKDALE (KDKA) - Oakdale Park was gripped by mass chaos Wednesday morning, but it was only a drill.

The drill, put on by the Pittsburgh Technical Institute, started with a disgruntled man showing up at the crowded park with explosives.

He detonated at least one bomb leaving about 40 people dead or injured.

"It's unfortunate that in today's society, it's not a matter of if, it's just a matter of when and we don't know where the next event will occur," Pittsburgh Technical Institute Academic Chair Scott Domowicz said.

The idea was to give students enrolled in the school's criminal justice and nursing programs hands on experience.

"The value to them is to say to a responder, 'Why did you do that?' And the responder actually giving him the decision process, him or her of why they did what they did, which is invaluable to them," Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Jim Lauria said.

"As much as we can take precautions to prevent these situations, we can't cover every possible scenario. So, the next best thing we can do is to train for them and to prepare the next group of law enforcement individuals and the next group of nurses," Domowicz said.

Roughly 100 PTI students took part in the drill. First, they observed and then dove in to help process the crime scene.

"It's really interesting. I'm trying to just see what's going on in the scene and evaluate everything," criminal justice student Zion Tarver said.

Emergency responders from more than a dozen agencies in the area were part of the drill.

Join The Conversation On The KDKA Facebook Page
Stay Up To Date, Follow KDKA On Twitter