Massive Missing Person Drill Saturday in Burke, Lorton, Fairfax Station, Springfield

LORTON, VA — The Fairfax County Police Department Search and Rescue Team (SAR) will hold a large-scale training exercise Saturday, Aug. 20, with other area police agencies to simulate a search for a missing person.

The day-long training drill will be conducted in a vast stretch of park lands and residential neighborhoods in the Lorton, Springfield, Fairfax Station and Burke areas of the county and will simulate a three-day incident.

The training is not only intended to practice and assess basic search and rescue skills, such as land navigation and various search methods, but also test the entire Incident Command Structure, new software and technology, mutual aid partnerships and operational period changeovers.

Among the participating agencies:

• Fairfax County Police and Sheriff’s
• Fairfax County Fire and Rescue
• Loudoun County Sheriff’s
• Prince William County Police
• United States Park Police
• Montgomery County Police
• Maryland-National Capital Park Police
• Charles County (MD) Sheriff’s
• Maryland Search and Rescue
• Shenandoah Mountain Rescue Group
• Virginia Search and Rescue Dog Association
• DOGS-East Search and Rescue Group

Photo: Fairfax County Police