By Wes Woods II
San Bernardino County Sun
Copyright 2007 MediaNews Group, Inc.
All Rights Reserved

ONTARIO, Calif. — Anna Gonzalez and her family didn't hear anything about a disaster-preparedness drill.

So they were a bit surprised by the tree that collapsed into a boarded-up house across the street Thursday morning.

"They never mentioned doing this drill," Gonzalez said of the airline-crash drill that ran from 7:30 a.m. to about noon.

"I heard it in the morning," said Gonzalez's daughter Elizabeth Gonzalez, 13. "I was like, `What is going on?"'

A communications evaluation was one of the purposes of Ontario's drill on Main Street near Bon View Avenue.

The drill, which included more than 150 participants, began with registration Thursday near City Hall.

"There are going to be problems - this is the environment for this to be happening," said Ontario fire spokesman and emergency-services manager Jacob Green during his initial briefing outside City Hall.

"The point is to have a good time and to feel like you're prepared for the next disaster in Ontario," he said.

The scenario was a large cargo plane crashing three or four miles east of the airport in an industrial area with scattered damage and debris.

Members of the Emergency Operations Center, which consists of high-level city and emergency officials, were paged and they alerted fire, police and members of the City Employee Response Team, which includes about 400 employees.

Fire, police and airport representatives created a statement that could be issued to the public.

"It opens your eyes in the event of a major disaster," said police Officer Craig Ansman.

Tim Evans, a city parks and management specialist, was a member of the CERT team and helped lead efforts to rescue the "victims" of the crash inside the home on Main Street.

"It's good for a refresher," Evans said after he was finished. He was in the Air Force in 1980 and knew the routine.

"You see what it's like in a disaster, which is obviously not a real disaster," he said.

Fire and police officials considered the drill, which took six months to prepare, a success.

Darryl Polk, communications supervisor for Ontario fire and police, said it was great to make communications a priority.

But communication appeared to be the main problem agencies encountered, Polk said, pointing to the flow of information from the field to administration.

Officials from Verizon Wireless showcased about a million dollars worth of equipment at the exercise.

"Obviously, we're there in the event of an emergency," said Andrea Baugh-Lindsey, spokeswoman for Verizon.

Anna Gonzalez applauded the city's efforts to have a disaster-preparedness drill, even if she wasn't informed of it.

"I'm sure the city of Ontario will feel more safe, and they'll know exactly what to do," Gonzalez said.