A security cordon was soon established around the school, consisting of the Russian police ("militsiya"), Internal Troops, Russian Army forces, Spetsnaz (including the elite "Alpha" and "Vympel" units of the (FSB) Russian Federal Security Service), and the OMON special units of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD). A line of three apartment buildings facing the school gym was evacuated and taken over by the special forces. The perimeter they made was within of the school, inside the range of the militants' grenade launchers. No fire-fighting equipment was in position and, despite the previous experiences of the 2002 Moscow theater hostage crisis, there were few ambulances ready. The chaos was worsened by the presence of Ossetian volunteer militiamen ("opolchentsy") and armed civilians among the crowds of relatives who had gathered at the scene, altogether totaling perhaps as many as 5,000.