Loud horns sounded, flames shot up and the stench of propane permeated the air.
A few seconds of silence, and then horrific screams and shouts took over.
The scene had all the makings of an airplane crash Saturday, but the victims were volunteers acting as if the red streaks covering their body parts were blood. They were participants in an emergency preparedness drill at a Washington Dulles International Airport field.
"It gets us all working together as a team," said Michael Mason, assistant director of the Washington FBI field office. "We're doing more and more of these so when it happens, we'll be able to roll out as a well-oiled team."
In this exercise, a missile hits an airplane and explodes. Flight #230 has 125 passengers, five crew members and 25,000 pounds of fuel. The FBI responds to the crash scene off Route 50 and to a separate site off Route 28, where the airport's fuel farm is located. An air traffic controller had noticed a corkscrew smoke trail rise from the fuel farm and connect with the rear section of the aircraft. The FBI is looking for the missile launcher and the perpetrators.
AT THE SCENE, the FBI and the National Transportation Safety Board work side by side to reconstruct the crash and search for evidence.
Major Richard George, commander of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Dulles branch, arrive with a team of officers. "Security is paramount," he said. "Whenever you have an event of this nature, everything has to be treated as a crime scene. Every entity has to be protected."
Firefighters douse the flames and assist rescue workers in treating the victims. A firefighter leads a visibly shaken woman to a triage as she keeps repeating, "Somebody, help them."
A young woman tugs on a police officer's arm. "Do you know where my Mommy is?" she cries.
An American Red Cross volunteer moves through the bodies asking, "Holmes, any Holmes family members? Holmes?"
A helicopter to carry the critically injured lands at the site. Loudoun and Fairfax emergency responders arrive.
FIFTY VOLUNTEERS with the Loudoun chapter of the American Red Cross and representatives of another five chapters provide water, hot beverages, blankets and mental health assistance. Volunteer psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurses and other licensed professional accompany the victims to the hospitals.
Kevin Johnson, Loudoun's deputy coordinator of Emergency Management, stands by. He said the potential of a real natural disaster or terrorists attack exists every day, especially with a national airport in the region.
Matthew Partlow, Loudoun's deputy chief of Emergency Management Communications, said the usual Dulles airplane traffic is more of a distraction than it used to be. "You think about it when you hear a change in the engine," he said. "It makes you look up. Since 9/11, you notice that more than before."
The Federal Aviation Administration requires a full-scale exercise of the airport's emergency plan every three years.