Natick Police And Fire To Hold Training Exercise At Natick Mall

NATICK, MA — You might see a whole lot of police officers and firefighters at the Natick Mall on Sunday — don't panic, they're just training. From 6:30 p.m. until 10:30 p.m. on Sunday, Natick police and fire departments will be using the Natick mall as the training ground for their large-scale critical incident training exercise.

The mall will be open and operating as usual - first responders are staying in a part of the mall where shops close for the night, per their regular operating schedules.

The Natick Police and Fire Departments will be conducting the training exercise in conjunction with their municipal, state, federal and corporate partners. The Massachusetts Parole Board will serve as the incident control station for the operation.

"Anytime we can get our public safety partners together to conduct training such as this is beneficial for all parties involved," Police Chief Hicks said. "The safety of our residents is paramount and being able to conduct a training exercise such as this in a controlled environment gives all of us valuable insight and experience as to what it would be like to respond to a large-scale emergency incident in our town."

Fire Chief Lenitini said, "We would like to give our thanks in advance to the Natick Mall community and to the businesses in and around Sherwood Plaza for being flexible while this exercise is ongoing and we appreciate everyone's patience and understanding."

The exercise is partially funded by a federal homeland security grant awarded by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security’s Office of Grants and Research.