Expect Smoke, 'Simunitions' At Santa Monica Pier Thursday For Police Training

SANTA MONICA, CA — Residents shouldn't be alarmed if they hear bangs and see smoke on the Santa Monica Pier Thursday — it's only a drill, police said.

The Santa Monica police and fire departments will conduct a joint training exercise at the pier from 6 a.m. to noon Thursday, during which time the pier will be closed to the public.

The training comes just days after the pier was shut down when a man scaled the Ferris wheel while claiming to have a bomb, but police said this exercise is unrelated: It's been scheduled for months.

"The objective of this exercise is to train our first responders and test their response to high-risk, complex, events involving multiple agencies," police said in a release. "The Training Cadre will utilize simunitions and smoke simulations which look and sound real. Combined with the help of volunteer actors from the community, we aim to make this training as realistic as possible to further prepare our personnel in the event of an actual active threat.