First responders in Maine recently trained for a most bizarre scenario. Emergency workers from eight Maine counties came to Bangor for a zombie apocalypse preparedness exercise meant to teach them how to respond should the dead come back to life, the Bangor Daily News reports.
The event welcomed emergency personnel from a number of different organizations including the National Guard and Center for Disease Control, and while it had a scenario seemingly out of a horror movie, it had a serious goal. Though preparing for zombies is a bit unusual, the first responders in attendance were also being taught how to treat a worldwide outbreak of disease.
"This gives us the opportunity to do something a little bit different, but it still has the same principles that would apply in a real situation," Kathy Knight, director of the Northeastern Maine Regional Resource Center, told the newspaper.
In this instance, participants were responding to a zombie pandemic that started in Jamaica and spread throughout the world, transmitted from victim to victim by bites. The exercise emphasized everything from administering antidotes to dealing with unforeseen circumstances.
The event comes on the heels of several events in Florida that had some citizens legitimately concerned about an impending zombie invasion. In May, a man under the influence of drugs attacked a homeless man in a zombie-style assault that left him seriously injured, The Associated Press reports.