Tone alert radios find 1st homes

This story was published Wed, May 3, 2000

By Mary Hopkin
Herald Oregon bureau

UMATILLA - Karen Garcia was one of the first residents to have a tone alert radio installed in her Powerline Road home.

Like many residents who opened their doors to find two people dressed in fluorescent green vests holding clipboards, she didn't know what to think at first.

Census workers or salesmen?

But after the husband-and-wife radio installation team of Eddie and Molly Van Cleave explained who they were and what they wanted to do, Garcia was happy to invite them in.

The free radios being doled out to Umatilla and Morrow County residents are part of the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program's alert and notification system. They will augment CSEPP's other warning signals - sirens, highway reader boards and the Emergency Alert System - in warning residents if nerve agents leak from the Umatilla Chemical Depot.

The radios will give a little more peace of mind to residents near the depot, like Garcia, who wonder about what would happen if a release occurred.

"I worry about it," Garcia said. "Wouldn't you?"

After passing security and background checks and attending hours of training, a handful of the Radio Services Co. installers hit the pavement and started knocking on doors in the South Hills area of Umatilla, along Powerline Road.

The area is considered to be most at risk in the event of a chemical spill because of its proximity to the depot and the prevalent, steady winds that whip across the stockpile's earthen bunkers toward the South Hills, said CSEPP spokesman Bill Howard.

But even though there's been almost endless media coverage of CSEPP, emergency preparedness and the tone alert radios, many people weren't expecting to see the installers at the door.

That didn't surprise Molly Van Cleave, who works at the Hermiston Police Department and is moonlighting as an installer.

"Every time they do monthly siren tests, we are ambushed with calls, people asking if it's the real thing," she said. "Even though it's in all the newspapers and on the radio."

That's one of the reasons she decided to take the installation job, Van Cleave said.

"I wanted to see how it was going to work and how the public would react," she added.

While her husband installs the radio, a simple task of plugging it in and testing it, Molly Van Cleave explains the accompanying pamphlet to residents, going over the instructions and where to call if the radio isn't operating.

Once the radio is installed, Eddie Van Cleave tests the equipment. It sends out a high, shrill scream, causing some residents to wince.

Hopefully, it will be the only time the residents hear the noise.

Howard said the radios will only go off in the case of an chemical emergency, tornados, flash floods or other catastrophic events.

"It's only going off if something desperate is happening," Howard said.

If the radio alarm sounds, Garcia said she and her family will know what to do.

"I'm going to read the instruction book tonight, and every one of my kids is going to know how to use it," Garcia said.

Complete distribution of all 15,500 radios will take six to seven months.

For more information about the radios or for questions about installation or delivery, call 800-307-7708.

 

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