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24-Hour Public Safety Exercise To Be Held In Greater Boston

BOSTON (CBS) - Homeland Security officials will hold a daylong public safety exercise in the Greater Boston area this weekend.

First responders from Boston and eight surrounding towns will be dealing with simulated emergencies all going on simultaneously.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Kim Tunnicliffe reports

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Brookline Police Chief Daniel O'Leary says the 24-hour exercise, known as Urban Shield, will include a mass casualty event that will test the readiness of eight regional hospitals.

"They have to expect a surge of patients checking in," says Chief O'Leary. "They have to balance between all eight hospitals not only who is going to handle what patients but the equipment that they are going to use."

The Transit Police will be involved with incidents at subway stations.

The drill also includes a water emergency that will test the skills of police and fire marine units as well as the Coast Guard.

"The federal government has given us a lot of money to protect Boston Harbor," says Chief O'Leary. "We are going to test the assets on different things."

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