A massive public safety exercise called “Urban Shield” will be conducted on Saturday, May 3rd into Sunday morning including several mock emergencies as part of first responder training. The Boston exercises will include a hostage rescue of elected officials and a parking lot collapse. Over 2,000 personnel (police, fire, EMTs) will respond to simulated simultaneous emergencies throughout the metro-Boston area. Noise including gunfire and sirens are to be expected.
Urban Shield: Boston will run for a 24-hour period. As a result residents may observe public safety personnel responding to simulated emergencies. Each scenario will be run multiple times, and residents should not to be alarmed. There is no danger to anyone in the area, and exercises will be done in cordoned-off areas away from the public.
On Saturday afternoon around 1:00 pm, SWAT teams will simulate a hostage rescue of elected officials at Boston City Hall. A response to a consolidated event will also take place at the convention center later in the day. The MBTA training center on Foundry Street will have a simulated explosive device. Other exercise areas will include Brookline and Cambridge.
More information at the City of Boston website.
A few years ago, military exercises in Boston included helicopter drops of personnel on the top of downtown skyscrapers.
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