Media Advisory: Emergency Response Exercise Brings Together Public, Private Sectors To Enhance Emergency Preparedness

REDMOND, Wash., April 23, 2004 — On Saturday, April 24, Microsoft Corp. will collaborate with the city of Redmond fire and police departments, 911 dispatch center, Overlake Medical Center and other local agencies to conduct an emergency preparedness training exercise to help ensure that the local community can respond in the most coordinated and effective manner in the event of a real emergency.

The exercise is designed to help public and private sectors leverage each other’s expertise and develop a strong, unified emergency response plan. Local agencies conduct these exercises routinely, and Microsoft is helping the city of Redmond fulfill its annual requirement by hosting the event on its campus. This exercise has been designed to simulate an emergency situation with mock patients and emergency vehicles from local law enforcement, fire and emergency agencies.

“This exercise will provide us an opportunity to implement our Multiple Casualty Incident plan with all of the regional players that would be involved in an actual MCI that could happen anywhere” said Lt. Jeffrey Smith of the Redmond Fire Department. “And this scenario will allow us to see how the inclusion of a civilian element, with the involvement of Microsoft Corp., will affect our MCI plan. This drill will help us to be better prepared to respond in the event of a variety of types of disasters.”

“Protecting the safety and well-being of our employees and the local community is a top priority at Microsoft,” said Mike Huber, general manager for Corporate Services and crisis manager for Microsoft. “This exercise will allow us to deepen our relationships with local emergency agencies to ensure we have the plan, partnerships and leadership in place to respond to, mitigate and recover from a range of potential emergencies or disasters.”

Microsoft has conducted various joint exercises with outside organizations including the Redmond police and fire departments. This exercise is on a larger scale and is the first to include both primary responder agencies — fire and police — in the same exercise. The city of Redmond attempts to exercise the city’s MCI plan annually. Although the size, complexity and scenarios vary, as do the agencies and companies involved, drills of this size occur once every three or four years.

What: Multiple Casualty Incident (MCI) training exercise

Where: Microsoft campus, building 31 cafeteria, Redmond, Wash.

When: Saturday, April 24, 2004, 10–11:30 a.m. PDT

Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

For members of the media interested in covering the exercise:

Members of the media interested in gaining access to the exercise location should contact Crystal Duncan to make arrangements. Should news organizations hear unusual reports or radio traffic on Saturday morning, please contact Crystal Duncan to confirm whether they are part of the exercise.

Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft®
Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/ on Microsoft’s corporate information pages. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may since have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/contactpr.asp .

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