I have found that training scenarios are really only good for training purposes, and bare no resemblance to reality.  
Where I am, people live up to an hour from work, and will not be near home or work if an emergency should occur. The same holds true for emergency personnel.  
I know that reality dictates that if there is an emergency, I will not be able to respond to work, and in most cases neither will supervision.  
In fact, communication will be down etc.
 
I like to use scenerios that tell it like it would be in the worst case...
you wont see your cities emergency personnel arrive in the city, (because they cant get to work) and there will be no communication of any sort or at any level....
 
in fact, allot of the trained CERT people will be stuck at work or on the roads they travel, leaving their neighborhoods empty, should an emergency strike during business hours.  
 
We can use previous models as an example...9/11 and the SF Loma Prieta earthquake...
 
has anyone else used the worse case scenerio for simulation purposes and training people...or do you use the scenerios that have everyone in their homes, after work with everyone at their disposal?

Yes we use the worst case scenario for teaching and exercising.  This is stressed in every class that the students attend.  Professional responders are not available for what ever the case may be.  48 - 72 hours may be even a week.  They are told to use what every materials they have available to them at the time of the incident, for where ever they may be when it happened.  
 
Students are complaining about making up multiple kits for home, car, and work.
 
The 2 instructors that we have make the students think outside the box.    

In Fairfax County, VA our CERT training is conducted at the fire & rescue academy during the evenings, because the academy grounds are used during the day for recruit classes.  Having the training at night adds to realism, because the CERTS get used to working in the dark, and must rely on their flashlights, etc.   We use all the academy facilities, the high bay, burn building, multi-purpose building, rubble pile, etc.  Classes are spread out over 8 weeks, on weekday evenings, and each class runs an evolution which reinforces that day's lesson.  Initial scenarios of course are simple, and they get more complex as more subject matter is taught.  The 40 acre campus enables academy staff to set up varied scenarios which include high-rise buildings, automobile pile-ups, etc.   Final exercises run all-day on a weekend and will involve 4-5 CERT classes, plus volunteer fire companies and EMS participating in the exercise.   A typical final exercise will involve 50-60 CERTs,  a hundred live "victims" and up to a dozen mannequins, depending upon the number available.  
 
Attached is an pre-exercise brief sent out to participants which gives a good overview of planning for the final exercise:
 
- - - - - - -  EXAMPLE PRE EXERCISE BRIEF - - -  
 
You are participating in Sunday’s CERT 11/12/13 Final Exercise. If you cannot, please let me know so I can update my records.
 
As of right now, we are estimating 55 students to participate and over 100 live victims.  The training objectives for the exercise remain the same as usual.  This group will have a lesser trained group (CERT 13) who only received 13 hours of training. Please be aware of this while observing for any potential safety issues. It could easily happen that a higher trained person will ask a lesser trained person to do something that is beyond their capabilities or comfort level.
 
The day is split into two main parts:
 
1.      Setup/Fire Extinguishers  
2.      Disaster  
 
During the Setup phase, we need to handle:
 
1.      Classroom seating for CERT 11/12 for fire extinguishers. Unfortunately there is only 1 classroom available for us for the entire day. And it’s classroom 1 or 2. As such, we need to have chairs for 35 people setup. We also need to ask the EMT class if we can borrow a classroom at some point if possible.  
2.      Seating for victims. Since we have no classroom space, we need to handle seating for as many victims as possible while they are waiting. We should setup a staging area in the high bay somewhere where can place them and have the ones that need to sit the most there. We’ll need to move extra chairs in for this purpose.  
3.      Parking. We’ll have to handle parking as well as signage for the victims. We expect them to start arriving around 8:50ish. I’ve told most to be there at 9:30 but many will come early.  
4.      Fire Extinguishers evolution needs to be setup by 9:00am.  
5.      Food and drink coolers need to be setup (brought by the students)  
6.      Five mannequins need to be buried in very difficult to extricate areas.  
7.      Ten mannequins need to be buried in moderately difficult extricate areas.  
8.      Live victims need to be moulaged, cataloged and staged.  
9.      Victims need to be given a safety briefing as well as what CERT is all about. The difficulty here will be space. We may have to setup a projector and screen in the high bay area in order to be able to use media for this presentation.  
10.      Communications need to be established and identities for non participants created and identified.  
11.      Accountability system needs to be established for all personnel.  
12.      Making sure victims understand their exact acting roles.  
13.      Creating signs with “weights” for any debris placed on victims.  
14.      Creating symptom tags for mannequins.  
15.      Feeding victims.  
 
During the Disaster phase, we need to handle:
 
1.      Finding adequate places for victims.  
2.      Creating an area of warmth for victims during their wait and after their rescue. (Bus? High bay?)  
3.      Accounting for the actual locations and numbers of victims placed.  
4.      Safety of all personnel.  
5.      Communications with EMS unit onsite (A813)  
6.      Setting fires in appropriate places.  
7.      Staffing an engine (if possible) to respond toward the end of the incident.  
8.      Obtaining the helicopter if possible for effect.  
9.      Handling VIPs and visitors.  
10.      Photography.  
11.      Documenting student actions for debrief.  
12.      Assessing the welfare of victims.  
13.      Provide necessary teaching during exercise.  
14.      Making sure everyone has a positive experience.  
15.      and much more.  
 
The ICS chart for Sunday is attached.  E807 is yellow as it is the only position not currently filled.  Susan Beale, Sandy Proteau and Lani have volunteered to help with moulage so we’ll need to use people from other positions as well as possibly victims to fill this role. I suspect we’ll need at least 7 moulagers.
 
The branches are as follows:
 
Operations – CAPT Steve Willey -  
 
Ops is responsible for:
 
Setup Phase
1.      Setup of Fire Extinguishers  
2.      Assessment of safety of entire disaster area  
3.      Setup of Victim staging along with Logistics  
 
Disaster Phase
4.      Placement of Victims during the Disaster phase  
5.      Accountability and Welfare of Victims during  
6.      Safety and monitoring of victims  
7.      Safety of students  
 
 
Logistics – FF John Morrison -  
 
Setup Phase
1.      Parking  
2.      Radios  
3.      Victim staging area  
4.      Victim sign-in area setup (for Victim/Planning Branches)  
5.      Food and drink  
 
Disaster Phase
1.      Logistics support as needed  
2.      Assistance with Victim W

Ongoing involvement of CERT with emergency management is key to incorporate CERT and other Citizen Corps groups in exercise planning.  
 
In the Washington, DC area CERT has provided victim-actors for the Defense Department's Capitol Shield exercise, and this year CERT on October 27 will also participate as responders during this year's Capitol Shield.