On Thursday, the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management will conduct an incident response drill in conjunction with ExxonMobil at the company’s Las Flores Canyon facility.

The response drill, one in a series of ongoing exercises designed to test both the county’s and local businesses’ emergency response plans, will focus on the county’s hazardous materials, emergency operations and multi-casualty emergency services response plans, as well as ExxonMobil’s response plans.

The drill will take place from about 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday. This exercise will include deployment of Santa Barbara County emergency response personnel and their equipment; exercise activity may be visible from Highway 101 or Calle Real in the vicinity of El Capitan and Refugio Beach state parks.

This is only an exercise, and no action is required.

For more information regarding the response exercise specifically, call Elsa Arndt at the Office of Emergency Management at 805.681.5524.

— Terri Maus-Nisich is an assistant CEO for Santa Barbara County.