SARASOTA COUNTY — The Sarasota County Emergency Management will participate in an Emergency Operations Center activation exercise from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday. The exercise will be conducted from the EOC, on the sixth floor of the Sarasota County Administration Center, 1660 Ringling Blvd., Sarasota.

This exercise, which is in response to multiple tornado strikes throughout Sarasota and Charlotte counties, is part of a series of drills and exercises being conducted in Southwest Florida. Facilitators of the exercise are from the Central Florida Regional Planning Council. Several Neighborhood Disaster Preparedness Committees and Community Emergency Response Teams will also participate in the exercise. The Isles of Palmer Ranch will conduct a full-scale exercise with “victims” and damage to homes from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., and various units of the Sarasota County Fire Department will respond to the community as part of their Multi-Casualty Incident training.