Raccoon City Destruction Incident

The Raccoon City Destruction Incident, also known as the "Raccoon Incident", "Raccoon City Outbreak" and "Raccoon Tragedy", was a catastrophic viral outbreak that occurred in Raccoon City. Though Arklay County suffered a series of viral outbreaks from May 1998, the incident itself is typically marked with the shooting of Dr. William Birkin in late September.

Lead-up
The first outbreak in Arklay County occurred at Umbrella facilities in the Arklay Mountains in May: at the Arklay Laboratory, the executive training school, and a water treatment plant, as well as adjacent buildings. The perpetrator was Queen Leech, an intelligent leech developed by the late Dr. James Marcus, which had sought revenge on Umbrella for his murder ten years prior. The mountains were already in a precarious situation for several years, with an abandoned hospital housing a Huge Plant since 1993 and the escape of Lisa Trevor in 1995, and allegations raised in early 1998 that the river water, a dumping ground for Umbrella, was polluted beyond safety limits. However, the latest contamination was far more dangerous. The Arklay Lab staff were contaminated through unknown means and, following their mental deterioration, allowed a pack of Cerberus to escape from their cells. This led to a number of animal attacks in the mountains, along with Zombie attacks on households. The mountains were closed to tourists and S.T.A.R.S. was brought in to investigate, leading to the destruction of the executive training school and laboratory, and a forest fire which subsequently destroyed much of the surrounding area.

Though Umbrella USA had enough control over the people and institutions in Raccoon City to avoid being linked to criminal actions, leading Umbrella virologist Dr. William Birkin and intelligence agent Dr. Albert Wesker quickly made plans to betray the company and move on. Dr. Wesker took up employment with a rival company when Umbrella ordered him to destroy the Arklay Laboratory; though he intended to fake his death and escape with crucial bio-weapons research, the interference of his S.T.A.R.S. team prevented him from escaping with that data.

Dr. Birkin meanwhile accepted his fears Umbrella would never promote him to their board of directors, and began sending messages to the US military offering to send the G-Virus to them instead on the condition he be given asylum. The US military accepted his offer, and Dr. Birkin began attempts to destroy the local Umbrella contingent. NEST sent enough contaminated specimens for treatment at Incineration Disposal Plant P-12A to disrupt its performance and mutate its staff into Zombies. Similar pollution took place at a sewer facility and a scrap yard, based on recorded evidence of the employees experiencing symptoms of infection. By mid-September Raccoon General Hospital was treating patients suffering from t-Virus infection. On 15 September, Umbrella became aware of the situation and the Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service was readied.

Immediate cause
Umbrella caught wind of Dr. Birkin's plans thanks to their own moles within the U.S. military, and a Umbrella Security Service task force infiltrated Raccoon City in mid-September and made their way into the Underground Laboratory at midnight on 23 September. Dr. Birkin may have released a pack of Hunter Rs at this point, which killed or infected much of the G-Virus R&D team. A two-man USS team confronted Dr. Birkin, armed with MP5s. During a standoff, the sound of a cup falling to the floor was mistaken for a gunshot, and the doctor was repeatedly shot and his briefcase containing G-Virus and t-Virus samples was stolen. Close to death, Dr. Birkin infected himself with a vial the team failed to notice, and transformed into a "G". Dr. Birkin pursued the squad through the sewers and killed a number of them. During the rampage the briefcase was destroyed and a curious group of rats became infected with t-Virus as they drank the green media. The sewer ecology soon spiraled out of control over the next day, with giant rats competing with giant cockroaches. Ultimately these rats were forced out of the sewers and made their way into the outskirts of the city, where they swam in Victory Lake, the main reservoir for the city.

On the evening of September 23, Umbrella began warning of the major incident. When Brian Irons, Chief of Police at the Raccoon City Police Department, was briefed of the emergency he became hysterical and began preparations to botch police operations. Mayor Michael Warren was also alerted and departed the city immediately, leaving his daughter in the care of Chief Irons.

September 24-25
With the t-Virus now contaminating the drinking water, tens of thousands became infected. Over the course of the day, violence in the city increased. On the early hours of September 24, the Pentagon, having also been briefed, sent out a force to assess the spread of the virus. To cover up the viral outbreak, the Pentagon told the press they were investigating radioactivity in the area, and began working with the RPD and the Raccoon City Fire Department in evacuating civilians, with the first Chinook taking off from Raccoon Zoo at 10 AM. Their destination was an exclusion zone under construction, wherein they were thoroughly examined for signs of infection before they could be released. The situation during the first day was immensely confusing, and many people continued with their ordinary routine despite the increasing violence, with local media reporting instead on violence among spectators at the Raccoon Sharks football game, rather than the city subtly falling under martial law. From 7 PM, police were called out to set up roadblocks, with another team ordered to set off explosives on Main Street. Perhaps with inside information, police were also ordered to kill civilians refusing to comply with police orders.



Many people were still unaware of the outbreak by the evening, with the occupants of Jack's Bar only evacuating when the bartender, Will, was mauled by a supposedly drunk customer. During the chaos, a number of fires broke out around the city, putting a severe strain on the RFD. Their attempts to put out a fire at the Apple Inn proved fatal when a malfunctioning boiler burst, after the fire-injured zombies mutated into Lickers. At Main Street, the police explosives operation was completed with the aid of J's Bar survivors when two police officers were attacked and eaten while assembling the detonator, though a large reinforcement force of police officers were quick to arrive. Around 9 PM, a Chinook crashed when the refugees transformed into zombies. In response to this, the Pentagon announced it would restrict civilian movement. The Army National Guard was already ordered by the State Governor to help with the civilian evacuation and the President also sent in the United States Army to assist in the effort. Both military forces quickly surrounded the city and set up roadblocks sealing off any escape or entry. A no-fly zone was also established, in which only military, Umbrella, RPD, and RFD helicopters were permitted to fly.

On the 24th and 25th, Chief Irons made a number of unusual orders to weaken effectiveness. One was to seal possible escape routes, the other was to empty the weapons locker and store weapons and ammunition throughout the station. Though the latter concept could have improved the defense of the station early on, the loss of ground to the zombies also meant the loss of weapons.

September 26–27
By September 26, the situation was rapidly deteriorating. Chief Irons ordered out a large police force, including SWAT, to confront the zombies head-on, leaving the remaining police and civilians inside the station outnumbered and low on supplies. The Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service was deployed into the city at the same time, bringing with them four platoons of trained guerrillas and ex-Soviet Army personnel. However, both forces fared little against the zombies, and they were soon overrun and massacred. Umbrella's plans, however, were beyond that of helping the civilians. Though the UBCS mercenaries had orders to protect and rescue, they had in fact been deployed with the primary goal of testing the effectiveness of trained soldiers against irregular mutants and escaped B.O.W.s, with Monitors within the taskforce recording this information on company-issued laptops. Taking further advantage of the situation, Umbrella Europe sent over its Hunter β and Hunter γ B.O.W.s, which were then transported into the city by road, as well as the one-of-a-kind Nemesis-T Type by air, with orders to hunt down S.T.A.R.S. survivors to prove its viability as an intelligent soldier.

Elsewhere, Raccoon General Hospital came to a complete stop. The hospital was already crowded before the water contamination, and quickly began losing personnel, with many having been killed off or mutated into Zombies. A group of leeches escaped from the sewers and began to stalk survivors and corpses alike. As this mutant species did not produce the proteins and peptides typical of leeches, staff attacked by leeches continued to bleed out until they were too tired to resist. The hospital staff had refused to abandon their posts during the outbreak, as they were desperately researching a vaccine for the t-Virus, and even succeeded in capturing several Hunter γs to assist in this research. Though they were ultimately successful, the staff failed to vaccinate themselves in time and they all mutated. Through unknown means, Umbrella was made aware of their t-Virus vaccine, and "Directive Bravo 16" gave orders for their Monitors to destroy the hospital. During the night, Yoko Suzuki and the other J's Bar survivors entered the hospital and made their escape through the sewers, finding it to be too dangerous to stay.

At the NEST, the research staff had suffered from constant attacks from escaped B.O.W.s since the USS raid. Taking heavy losses, an injured researcher used the temperature controls to reduce the temperature below freezing, freezing the Hunter Rs in their tracks. Dr. Birkin's senior researcher, Dr. Martin Walcott, was dead, and Dr. Monica murdered Dr. Frost in the hopes of escaping the city with a G-larvae sample. Dr. Frederic Downing meanwhile had already escaped the city before the blockade with his own G-Virus samples. "Staffer A" and "Staffer B" were still alive, though seriously injured. The hospital survivors reached the laboratory via a sewer tunnel, and made their way through the facility. Monica was parasitized by the G-larvae after being attacked by a Giant Moth; incompatible with the parasite, she was killed. The survivors were forced to confront the "G" to escape the facility via train.

September 27-28
Following the massacres on the 26th, the RPD was limited to over a dozen officers stranded within the besieged police station, losing repeatedly against the zombies due to the arrival of Lickers. Two former S.T.A.R.S. members, Jill Valentine and Brad Vickers, were stranded in the city, with Jill being forced to abandon her apartment in the night, hiding out at a warehouse in Uptown Raccoon City with civilian Dario Rosso. The UBCS' remaining soldiers meanwhile were scattered around the city. Echo Team had been given orders to assist in destroying the Zombies in Downtown Raccoon City and then capture St. Michael's Clock Tower for use as an evacuation site. Only two team members made it to the clock tower, and after it had been captured by wounded UBCS personnel awaiting evacuation. They failed to ring the bell, and the helicopter did not arrive.

On September 28, the officers were attacked in their operations conference room and took serious casualties, including David Ford who may have been their senior. Realizing the station was entirely doomed to hold out, the survivors, including a few of those from Jack's Bar, began drawing up plans to escape through the sewers, and Lieutenant Marvin Branagh helped her colleague Rita Philips escape through a secret tunnel in a plan to call over a rescue van. Rita finally made contact with fellow officer Harry and both arrived at the station in a van. However, the station had been attacked again and Branagh was infected to the point he ordered the survivors to leave without him. Unaware of its abandonment, Valentine abandoned the warehouse and made her way towards the Raccoon Police Station, meeting Vickers on the way. Meeting at the Black Jack Bar, Valentine became aware of the Nemesis-T Type, which had until then been harassing Vickers. She would soon encounter the creature at the police station entrance, resulting in Vickers' mutilation, infection and zombification. Overhearing an emergency broadcast from Cpl. Carlos Oliveira of the UBCS, Valentine chose to abandon the station and investigate. At least five people were left in the building at this point: Chief Irons, Lt. Branagh, Elliott, the Mayor's daughter, and Dr. Birkin's 12-year-old daughter, Sherry.

Valentine joined up with UBCS Delta Platoon survivors Cpl. Oliveira; Sgt. Nikolai Zinoviev and Cpt. Mikhail Viktor. The three had planned to escape the city by calling the helicopter at the clock tower, and Valentine assisted in the retrieval of components to power a tram to get there. In their attempt, Sgt. Zinoviev disappeared and was presumed dead, and Cpt. Viktor blew himself with a hand grenade in an attempt to kill the Nemesis-T Type when it boarded the tram. Valentine and Oliveira arrived at the clock tower to find its occupants dead and began seriously doubting their prospects of survival. The rescue helicopter did in fact arrive as planned, though was shot down by the Tyrant to deny Valentine's escape. It was seriously injured in a fight with her which resulted in her infection with a mutant strain of t-Virus.

Meanwhile, the Army and the National Guard had sustained severe casualties during their operations in Raccoon City, forcing them to begin evacuating as well. The Delta Force team was sent out to the Raccoon General Hospital and the industrial estate east of the Circular River. The team at the hospital was wiped out in a confrontation with a pack of Hunter βs, who had made the hospital their hunting ground. The team at the industrial estate meanwhile was searching for the entrance to Dr. Birkin's laboratory to retrieve the G-Virus, but were unable to find it. Umbrella was quickly made aware of the search effort.

September 29-30
At midnight on September 29, Col. Sergei Vladimir assumed command over all Umbrella personnel in and around Raccoon City. At some point after this, Col. Vladimir's orders were that a helicopter transporting T-103s drop one of its cargo at the Raccoon Police Station to kill any surviving officers, with an additional five ordered to Incineration Disposal Plant P-12A, around which Delta Force was known to be investigating.

On the night of September 29, the blockade enforced by Army and National Guard soldiers failed in places due to the relentless zombie attacks the personnel sustained from them hidden among the refugees. With little news coming out of the city other than a riot and apparent radiation a week prior, drivers not up-to-date were at risk of attack. At least three people entered the city on this same route: rookie police officer Leon S. Kennedy, arriving a week late for work after an initial warning not to come in; Claire Redfield, sister of S.T.A.R.S. officer Chris Redfield; and a tanker driver. Kennedy and Redfield met up at the Mizoil Gas Station in the outskirts and drove to Raccoon City together when they realized how dire the situation had become, while the driver became infected from a bite and crashed his truck, exploding in the streets.

Kennedy and Redfield made their way into the Raccoon Police Station in search of aid. Kennedy learned of the zombies from Lt. Branagh, who warned him not to resist killing his infected colleagues. Exploring the parking garage, he encountered Ada Wong, a spy for the Organization sent to retrieve the G-Virus on their behalf. Wong bluffed her way through their encounter, insisting she was the FBI agent on a mission to recover the G-virus and to bring Dr. Annette Birkin, wife of Dr. William Birkin, to justice. Redfield meanwhile encountered Sherry Birkin and became her guardian for the night, only for Sherry to be kidnapped by Chief Irons and later rescued by Claire over the pendant. Irons also previously murdered the Mayor Warren's daughter, having desired to kill her and turn her skin into a taxidermy sculpture, and stuffed her body in display at the orphanage. During Kennedy's and Redfield's exploration, Lt. Branagh mutated into a zombie and was killed. Chief Irons was killed by Dr. William Birkin, who was searching for Sherry as a means of reproduction. Prisoner and journalist Ben Bertolucci was killed by T-00 who was dropped into the station to hunt for remaining survivors. Meanwhile, the other five T-103s arrived at the P-12A plant and fought a hard battle with Delta Force troops. Ultimately, all five were killed, some even as Super Tyrants, with the entire Delta Force team also being destroyed.

During exploration of the sewers, the group met Annette, who explained the nature of the G-Virus, Umbrella's attack on her husband, and her suspicions of a spy sent to steal the virus. Sherry was found by her father and a parasite was implanted within her body. Though she was found by Redfield, she complained of stomach pains and later passed out. The four made their way into the Underground Laboratory, where Redfield realized Sherry had been infected. With help from Annette, who would soon after die, she was able to fabricate the G-Virus vaccine, "DEVIL". Wong's identity as a spy was confirmed when she tried to steal a G-Virus sample Kennedy obtained. She was knocked unconscious in a fight with T-00 and mistaken for dead, with Kennedy throwing the sample down a chasm in anger. In the daylight hours on September 30, T-00 was finally destroyed in its Super Tyrant form, Sherry was treated and her father was killed on a train. Kennedy, Redfield and Sherry found themselves far out of the Arklay Mountains and on the plains. Redfield left the two to search for her brother, while Kennedy and Sherry were soon found by U.S. military personnel and detained.

On the night of September 30, USS agent HUNK made radio contact with Umbrella and requested for immediate evacuation. HUNK was part of the two-man team that stole the briefcase from Dr. Birkin, and had survived the attack from the infected virologist with a G-Virus sample on his person. An Umbrella helicopter picked him up at the Raccoon City Police Station and left the city completely.

October 1
During the week, a Congressional committee including Ron Davis discussed how to solve the crisis in Raccoon City, with input from Derek C. Simmons, who was involved in the American bio-weapons research group which wanted the G-Virus. To guarantee the eradication of the virus with the happy side-effect of destroying Umbrella data which may implicate the U.S. government, it was decided an experimental thermobaric missile be used to destroy the city. The President approved of the plan, against the protests of Umbrella, who sent out emergency radio messages warning surviving personnel to evacuate. As a result, the U.S. Air Force was given an authorization to bomb the city, and the no-fly zone was lifted.

Cpl. Oliveira searched Raccoon General Hospital for any medication for Valentine, who had been unconscious for two days due to the effects of Nemesis α's t-Virus strain. There, he discovered the hospital's vaccine research and prepared a sample for Valentine. Sgt. Zinoviev set up C4 charges to destroy the building per his orders, and may have been behind the death of fellow Monitor Tyrell Patrick. Cpl. Oliveira and Sgt. Zinoviev escaped before the hospital exploded, and Valentine was treated for her infection.

In anticipation of Raccoon City's destruction, Umbrella executives and mercenary leaders quickly scrambled to finish their missions in the city. One UBCS team had orders to capture or destroy Thanatos, an experimental Tyrant developed by Dr. Greg Mueller, who had left the company in the weeks ahead of the outbreak and was known to be working on a t-Virus reagent called "Daylight". The UBCS team was wiped out at Raccoon University with the exception of Sgt. Zinoviev, who succeeded in assassinating Dr. Mueller before leaving. The co-developer of Daylight, Dr. Peter Jenkins, had successfully conscripted Dr. George Hamilton to complete his work before Muller killed him. Thanatos itself was injured when Sgt. Zinoviev set off explosives, and pursued Dr. Hamilton's group of civilians in its Super Tyrant form. It was killed or incapacitated, and the civilians were picked up by a Fire Department helicopter, whose crew had noticed the university explosion, and taken out of the city with Daylight.

Another UBCS team was sent out, under the command of Arnold and executive Tommy Nielsen, to recover "Nyx", an experimental bio-weapon which was stolen from an Umbrella storage depot at the dockyards by rogue USS Cpt. Rodriguez. The team laid landmines to prevent him escaping on foot, with Arnold based on the highway overpass with a sniper rifle in case he avoided them. The team also possessed a rocket launcher should he use a nearby Chinook sitting on the ruined Main Street. Cpt. Rodriguez remained inside the Chinook for some time, having given his co-conspirator Dr. Linda Baldwin time to recover a viral suppressant named "AT1521" from the Umbrella R&D Center. The facility had already been raided by David King's team of survivors and Dr. Carter, who were also searching for AT1521. To escape the building, now controlled by escaped Hunter Rs, Dr. Carter released the experimental T-103 variant, "Tyrant R". The Tyrant soon turned on them and killed Dr. Carter, destroying the sample in the process. Dr. Baldwin, the only one left alive with knowledge on how to create the suppressant, was rescued by King's team after falling down a shaft into the sewers, but was soon washed away by water. Dr. Baldwin was shot by Arnold, who mistook her for a zombie, and sought shelter at the Apple Inn, where she was later rescued. The UBCS team lost control of the area when Rodriguez took off in the Chinook, losing its cargo while avoiding rocket fire. The UBCS team, who had orders to evacuate, instead investigated the cargo and were attacked and absorbed into Nyx, followed by Tyrant R. King and his team succeeded in destroying Nyx and left the city on a military truck with Dr. Baldwin.

Ada Wong, seriously injured by T-00 and now bandaged, managed to escape into the sewers before the NEST was destroyed. In possession of a G-Virus sample, her orders were to head for the Apple Inn and meet with a liaison hiding in an upstairs room. The man had given up waiting in her absence, however, and killed himself to prevent mutation. Wong's contact, Albert Wesker, notified her of an Umbrella helicopter set to escape Raccoon City. This helicopter was the same one used to drop off the T-103s several days prior, now carrying Col. Vladimir, an Umbrella executive, and the UMF-013 supercomputer originally retrieved from the Arklay Laboratory prior to its destruction. Wong, armed with the liaison's hookshot, was able to quickly traverse the destroyed streets and made her way up the highway overpass where she fought Tyrant R, who had recovered from the Nyx absorption. Wong succeeded in destroying the Tyrant and used her hookshot to ride out of the city.

Meanwhile, Valentine and Cpl. Oliveira moved independently through Raccoon Park, in the direction of the Incineration Disposal Plant P-12A, with both overhearing radio evacuation orders along the way. While Valentine explored a cabin, she discovered Sgt. Zinoviev, who may have killed the radio operator. All three made their way into the P-12A plant, though Sgt. Zinoviev succeeded in capturing a helicopter and fleeing, leaving Valentine and Cpl. Oliveira behind. Valentine fought and seriously wounded the Nemesis-T Type in a treatment room, and its body was scarred by acid. It escaped, however, and ate from the body of a T-103 Super Tyrant killed by Delta Force, mutating in doing so. An experimental railgun named the "Demon Sword of Paracelsus", brought into the yard by Delta Force, was used against the creature. The two survivors were then picked up by former S.T.A.R.S. officer Barry Burton, who had been waiting for the no-fly restrictions to be lifted to rescue Valentine. Having gotten in contact with Cpl. Oliveira, he knew to land at the scrap yard. The three escaped just as the missile arrived and struck directly into the heart of the city, and the helicopter was hit by the shockwave though remained in the air. At least 100,000 people (infected and non-infected) and BOWs were killed and everything within the city's limit was turned into a huge crater as a result of the bombing.

Aftermath
The events of the Raccoon City incident, including its destruction, were likewise covered up by the Government, with only portions of the destruction and the overall incident, namely the Umbrella Corporation's ties to it, being publicly revealed for Umbrella's shutdown and bankruptcy. Ironically, it also put an irreversible setback into Spencer's plans to create a new race due to the research notes for his eugenics project, Project W (which also resulted in the creation of Albert Wesker himself) being lost in the destruction.

Sometime later, the U.S. Government set up a research tower to oversee any possible hazardous activity left after the destruction of Raccoon City and for virus research purposes with unknown intentions, no other purposes were revealed.

This eventually culminated in the 2005 Harvardville Airport Bioterrorism incident when Curtis Miller attempted to expose the incident under the belief that the tragedy not occur again (as his family was killed in the incident), an event that eventually culminated in WilPharma framing him as well as his infection/mutation via the G virus and eventual death.

Eventually, in 2013, the details of the outbreak and destruction of Raccoon City were planned by then-President Adam Benford to be released to the public in a press conference at Tall Oaks. However, a secret organization known as The Family, which was led at the time by the United States National Security Advisor Derek C. Simmons, opposed Benford's decision as they believed that this would lower the United States' status and have the nation persecuted by the World Government. Simmons orchestrated a similar biological outbreak in Tall Oaks that resulted in the contamination and deaths of tens of thousands people, including Benford.