Yodaville hosts post-blast training

The FBI held its annual Large Vehicle Post-Blast Investigation Course - with a few additions this year - in the Marine Corps Air Station Yuma explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) building and at the Barry M. Goldwater Range's Yodaville complex.

The December course familiarized local, state, federal and military bomb technicians and investigators with processing large-vehicle improvised explosive device (IED) blasts. Featured were a blast in an urban setting and a simulated chemical attack, each for the first time in the course's history.

The course also promotes interagency cooperation and standardization of investigative techniques, said Special Agent Kevin Miles, FBI bomb technician and course instructor.

Established in 1998, the course is the only one of its kind. Classes have been taught in Yuma for the past six years, said Miles. It provided the 31 students with reality-based scenarios using realistic bombs and IEDs.

"It makes it easier in real-life situations because the students have already done it before," said Miles. "It's very realistic training."

The urban environment, a first for the course, was made possible by some luck in timing.

Yodaville, a simulated city used for aerial gunnery practice, is due for a cleanup this month. Range management personnel allowed the class to use the city since it's going to be rebuilt anyway, said Gunnery Sgt. Michael Chapman, station EOD team leader.

To accomplish the training, members of the station EOD team, the FBI and Riverside County Sheriff's Department constructed two large IEDs in vehicles parked in Yodaville.

The devices were detonated, devastating the center of Yodaville and creating a debris field full of evidence for the students to locate and collect.

The students set up a command post outside the "city" and began to plan how to accomplish the investigation as a simulated report of a biological weapon attack was received.

The simulated chemical agent attack was another first for the course, said Chapman. It forced the students to not only search the site for evidence from the explosion, but also for contamination.

The first group of investigators to enter the scene donned protective suits and masks. When the scene was deemed safe from the chemical attack, the students went through a decontamination process with the help of Marine chemical, biological, radiation and nuclear safety technicians and hazardous materials experts from the Yuma Fire Department.

The evidence collected from the scene enabled the students to determine the vehicles involved, the type of explosives used and, ultimately, identify the culprits.

"It was a good joint operation involving multiple civilian and military agencies," said Sgt. Cassell Williams, station EOD technician.

The training not only taught the students many valuable methods to investigate a blast, but also gave them confidence to do so.

"It was a good turnout," said Chapman. "The students learned a lot. The urban environment was a benefit, and we will try to coordinate the urban training into the class again next year."

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Lance Cpl. Aaron Diamant writes for Desert Warrior, the newspaper at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.