FEMA workers coming to Pendleton

This story was published Sat, Mar 13, 1999

By Genoa Sibold-Cohn
Herald staff writer

Four Federal Emergency Management Agency workers from Bothell are making the move on Monday to Pendleton.

Over the next month, the staff will be working full time in Umatilla and Morrow counties to plan for chemical test burns in April 2000. The burns will be conducted over an 18-month period at the Umatilla Chemical Depot.

The depot holds 3,717 tons of aging lethal chemical agent stored eight miles west of Hermiston.

"We want to get a jump on tying all these loose ends together so we have a comfort margin later on," said Jesse Seigal, FEMA's public affairs officer in Bothell and one of the four who will work in Umatilla County's Emergency Operations Center.

Through the state's Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program, the staff is to conduct county and city safety training, distribute literature on evacuations and chemical disaster safety and acquire protective gear for fire and police departments. Another purpose of the program is to warn residents, drivers and visitors in the event of a disaster through highway reader boards and outdoor emergency sirens. These would also alert residents of potential disaster.

The workers may even attend county fairs or wander local streets to make sure FEMA reaches and informs all Morrow and Umatilla county residents who could be in danger, Seigal said.

"It's a tough job because there are a lot of people out there who don't watch TV or don't go to public meetings," Seigal said. "But people have got to understand what to do just in case."

Tammy Doherty, FEMA's Region 10 director of preparedness, training and exercises, CSEPP Manager Eric Richardson and Rick Kammerer, a technical hazards specialist also will spend their five-day work week in Pendleton.

"Even though we've accomplished a lot, there's still a lot to do by April of next year," Seigal said.

 

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