In the wake of Saturday’s London attacks security personnel will be on high alert for Sunday morning’s race. NBC 7’s Astrid Solorzano talk to the San Diego Fire Bomb Squad.
In the wake of the attacks in London Saturday, security is a top priority for organizers of Sunday morning’s Rock ‘n’ Roll marathon.
The main security question: how do you keep a 26-mile stretch of road safe?
More than 30,000 runners and walkers are set to race Sunday morning at 6:15 a.m., and law enforcement agencies are preparing behind the scenes.
“You will definitely see law enforcement,” San Diego Fire, Bomb Squad Commander John Wood tells NBC 7. “Trying to sweep a city this size, you know, you try and do it as best you can.”
Wood says they always keep the Boston Marathon in mind when doing security for the race.
“After the Boston Marathon obviously we all ramped up our games for something like that. For San Diego we're prepared we walk among the people we kind of check things out we make sure everything is safe, for the public and for the runners.”
Officers will be wearing light body armor during the race.
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“We’ll wear [the armor] often times, if we're going on something that is less dangerous,” he said. “This is the helmet for those big green suits that we wear.” The suits each weigh 100 pounds.
Local law enforcement, hazmat and bomb squads are all working together to local the marathon down. ATF and the San Diego Police Department also have an Explosive Detection Canine Team.
“They're designed basically to detect any of these chemicals that you can see here,” Wood says.
The most common type of explosive is smokeless powder, which includes firearms, pipe bombs or any homemade devices. “We'll be out there, making sure everybody is keeping safe,” Wood promises.
