Weather adds touch of reality in Hermiston

This story was published Thu, May 13, 1999

By Theresa Goffredo and Terry Hudson
Herald Oregon bureau

HERMISTON - It wasn't enough that emergency managers and Army officials held the largest chemical emergency drill in the area's history Wednesday - involving about 8,000 people.

In addition, they added an extra touch to make the event more realistic -Êand as unpredictable as the weather.

Really.

To test the community's preparedness in the event of a release of lethal nerve gas agent from the Umatilla Chemical Depot west of Hermiston, drill participants in Umatilla, Morrow and south Benton counties had to deal with actual weather conditions.

That meant there was little time to plan whether to evacuate people from the path of the deadly gas.

And nature dealt drill organizers a tough hand, with winds moving southwest from the depot and heading for Umatilla at 21 mph as the drill began about 9 a.m.

The mock accident involved nearly 8,000 students, volunteers and emergency managers in the three counties, as well as a team from Oregon Emergency Management, a division of the Oregon State Police and employees with the Washington State Military Department Emergency Management Division.

Also as part of the drill, about 800 depot employees, residents and contractors working on the incinerator project were evacuated. Students from 11 schools in Umatilla and Morrow counties tested their preparedness and the schools' overpressurization systems - specially equipped rooms designed to keep lethal gas outside.

Lt. Col. Martin Jacoby, depot commander, stood in his camouflage fatigues inside the depot's emergency operations center and explained why real weather conditions were used.

"Real weather doesn't allow for officials to say 'My county has a little more time because we know when the plume will hit,' " Jacoby said. "We wanted to make this as realistic as we can make it. We had to do it because we're not going to know what the weather is if a real event happens."

Dave Galgani, who also helped direct Wednesday's drill, said, "The community needs a pat on the back to be the first one to be able to do this exercise with this extra measure of realism. I'm like a football coach, and I can tell you we won the game."

In Wednesday's accident scenario, three depot workers were said to be hurt while trying to locate a leaking M-55 rocket filled with GB - deadly sarin nerve gas agent - stored in one of the depot's concrete bunker "igloos."

One worker had a broken arm, another suffered a cracked rib and collapsed lung and the third faked a mild exposure to the nerve agent.

Those "patients" initially were treated at the depot, then taken to Good Shepherd Community Hospital by a Hermiston Fire Department ambulance crew and by helicopter. Prosser Memorial Hospital also set up a first aid and decontamination station.

At Good Shepherd, Ken Franz, the hospital's emergency director, said a physician observer from Maryland said the hospital faces a unique problem because other depots around the country are more isolated. Good Shepherd is directly downwind from the depot.

Franz said the hospital also had to simulate use of outside decontamination tents for Wednesday's drill. He said, however, a decision should be made within the next month where to buy decontamination tents, so the hospital should be fully equipped for next year's drill.

At Prosser Memorial Hospital, one mock patient arrived by ambulance. The patient already had been decontaminated.

Drills at area schools reportedly went well, as students and staff "sheltered in place" in portions of their buildings that have been designed to keep out contaminated air.

Nearly 4,000 students participated in the Hermiston School District.

"The drill occurred during our focus period, when we had a lot of kids at different locations," said Jan Tresham, assistant principal at the high school.

"A large group of students have religious release during their focus period, and some were across the street at the Campus Life building. We called over there, and everyone made it here on time."

Tresham said everyone was accounted for inside the gymnasium in less than 10 minutes.

 

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