CSEPP confirms tone-alert radios on way

This story was published Wed, Mar 31, 1999

By Theresa Goffredo
Herald Oregon bureau

HERMISTON - Morrow and Umatilla County commissioners have signed a contract to buy 17,000 special tone-alert radios that will give area residents a first line of defense in case of a lethal nerve agent leak from the chemical depot.

Federal Signal Corp. of University Park, Ill., is to deliver 100 of the radios within 30 days, officials with the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program said Tuesday.

The radios must undergo testing. If they pass muster, Federal Signal has agreed to make a first shipment of 3,000 radios to be handed out to residents who live closest to the Umatilla Chemical Depot near Hermiston.

After the first 3,000 radios are delivered, the contract calls for Federal Signal to supply 1,000 radios every month until the $3.1 million contract is complete.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is handling the distribution contract for the radios and is selecting a vendor to deliver the radios, said Jesse Seigal, FEMA's regional public information officer in charge of chemical stockpile preparedness.

It's estimated it will take two months or longer before residents who live within 10 miles of the depot have tone-alert radios in their homes, Seigal said.

Washington residents in southern Benton County are to receive radios later this spring.

"We're moving as quick as humanly possible," Seigal said Tuesday.

FEMA allocated the $3.1 million to Umatilla and Morrow counties to be disbursed through the state's CSEPP program to buy the tone-alert radios.

The special devices sound an alarm and broadcast emergency information - in both English and Spanish - to alert people that a nerve gas leak has occurred at the depot, where 3,717 tons of aging lethal chemical agent is stored eight miles west of Hermiston.

The radios are a critical component of CSEPP's early-warning system and are designed to complement CSEPP's suite of highway reader boards and outdoor emergency sirens in alerting residents to a disaster.

The radios also will provide National Weather Service broadcasts and special weather alerts. The radios operate electronically but come with a backup battery. They also include a flashing strobe light for the hearing-impaired.

Delays in buying the tone-alert radios occurred last year when TFT Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., sued after the counties awarded the radio contract to Federal Signal.

In February, the lawsuit was settled out of court. Conditions of that settlement were not disclosed.

 

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