By Brian Bull, Wisconsin Public Radio

MADISON (WPR) Ten Wisconsin hospitals and the U.S. Army Reserve are staging several mass casualty drills this week.

Officials say “Operation Red Dragon” is the largest ever exercise they’ve done yet to prepare for a possible, large-scale disaster.    It will test how well members of the 415th Chemical Brigade and local hospital staffs work together to decontaminate victims.  Nearly 200 members of the brigade will participate in the mock exercise. Most will be covered in a lightly-glowing ooze, to better create the effect of being a chemical attack victim. 

Organizers say while hospitals have done decontamination exercises with up to 30 patients at a time, they’ll aim to do five times that number in these latest drills.

Tracy Buchman, Safety Director of University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics in Madison, says the exercise will use her facility’s decontamination room.  She says the scenarios consider the use of weapons of mass destruction which include nuclear, chemical, biological, and radioactive agents.  She says their facility has already been used a few times in the past to treat victims of explosions, burns, or chemical exposure in manufacturing plants.  Now the drills will give her staff more of an idea of its capabilities -- and limits -- on a larger scale.

Operation Red Dragon will be carried out in cities including Milwaukee, La Crosse, and Madison through Saturday.  Organizers are trying to get the word out about the drills, so locals aren’t worried when they see military vehicles, patients covered with glowing slime, and people in bio-hazard suits at their hospital.

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Information from Wisconsin Public Radio, www.wpr.org