After year’s absence, all-hazard Konfitma exercise kicks off

Two masked firefighters prepare their gear as other firefighters are on standby shortly after they extinguished a fire triggered by a car explosion scenario in Lower Base yesterday afternoon. The scenario was part of the 24-hour full-scale all-hazard exercise Konfitma. (Ferdie De La Torre)

After a year’s hiatus, the 24-hour full-scale all-hazard exercise Konfitma kicked off yesterday on Saipan.

The exercise began at 6am with a scenario at the former Far Eastern Broadcasting Building area. Several other scenarios followed at different places on the island, Saipan Tribune learned.

At about 2:30pm, the fourth scenario was about a car explosion that triggered a fire near the Division of Fish and Wildlife compound in Lower Base. Several police officers were seen blocking the road leading near the site. Firefighters responded, assessed the situation, and then extinguished the blaze. Masked firefighters were then seen investigating the scene.

Konfitma is partnership between the CNMI and the U.S. Department of Defense, and various local and federal agencies to test the response capabilities of law enforcers and many agencies not just the incidents but also handling the hot weather condition.

Konfitma is an annual exercise that started in 2009 on Saipan. There was no exercise last year because of disasters, including Super Typhoon Soudelor.

Office of the Governor public information specialist L.J. Castro in an interview said Konfitma is an annual exercise training in tandem with local and federal first responders.

Castro said the purpose of the training is to make sure that if real world emergency situation happens such as bioterrorism and organized crime that occur within the region, the people that are tasked with protecting the community are ready to stand.

“From around the clock, all of the first responders that are involved in the training are on call, on notice from patrol police to TRET Team (Tactical Response Enforcement Team), search and rescue,” he said.

He said the participants are local police, Fire Department, Customs, Ports Police, other law enforcement agencies, and FBI.

CNMI Homeland Security and Emergency Management special assistant James Deleon Guerrero and his team and trainers are the over-all-in charge of the drill.

Members of the Civil Support Team from Guam, Hawaii, and Utah also joined in the annual training by assisting all the scenarios.

Castro said the scenarios include human trafficking, bioterrorism, and chemical attacks.

“A few scenarios we started in the morning. It pretty much keep all of us our toes as the day progresses,” Castro said.

Castro said during the exercise sirens are going off and explosives are blowing up.

He said people should not panic because it’s only an annual drill.