Drill tests disaster response

This story was published Thu, May 11, 2000

By Mary Hopkin
Herald Oregon bureau

HERMISTON - The call came over the radio at about 8:45 a.m. There had been an explosion in a bunker at the Umatilla Chemical Depot.

In a voice broken by static, a man said the bunker's door wouldn't close, but he saw no fire or smoke. One rocket had lodged in the doorway, and another was outside.

The man said three people had been injured. They were part of a depot chemical operations crew trying to locate a leaking M55 rocket from inside the bunker, or "igloo," when the blast occurred.

Fortunately, this was only a test.

The call Wednesday launched the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program emergency drill, held annually to test the ability of Army, federal, state and local emergency teams to respond effectively in case of a chemical release.

CSEPP is the federally funded program to prepare the area surrounding the Umatilla Chemical Depot for a possible accidental release of the deadly nerve agents stored at the depot. The Army is building an incinerator there now to destroy the nerve agents.

The mock chemical weapons accident involved about 800 emergency personnel and employees from Benton, Umatilla and Morrow counties, Oregon Emergency Management, the Umatilla Chemical Depot, CSEPP, Federal Emergency Management Agency and Soldier Biological Chemical Command.

When the make-believe accident occurred, three depot workers were reported injured. One suffered mock injuries to his face and had chemical burns. The second was "uncooperative" and had to be tied down to be decontaminated and transported from the site. The third suffered chest wounds and had shrapnel in the neck.

As part of the drill, depot employees, residents and contractors working on the incinerator project were evacuated. Also, students at Plymouth Elementary School held an evacuation drill, and the Benton County Sheriff's Office closed the river at Crow Butte State Park.

Horse Heaven Hills Middle School in Kennewick participated in Wednesday's drill, as a busload of students was evacuated to Kennewick High School, and 10 students played the role of casualties.

"When the school got the call, it went into a lock down," said district spokesman Rich Buel. "There was a practice evacuation for everyone at the school, but just one busload of kids was evacuated to the backup site.

"This is as close to the real thing as we can get. We want to make sure all the plans work if an emergency ever comes up."

A decontamination tent was set up at the high school, where medical workers treated mock casualties.

Also joining in the drill were the Kennewick Fire Department, Kennewick Police Department, American Red Cross and Benton County Emergency Management.

Lt. Col. Thomas Woloszyn, depot commander, said about 75 Army evaluators were shadowing depot employees during the events and making notes on responses. In addition, more than 100 more FEMA and independent evaluators observed state and local emergency managers to see how smoothly the response was to the mock incident.

"There was almost one evaluator for every two people involved," Woloszyn said.

The evaluators will release a report on the mock exercise within about 60 days.

Woloszyn said he believes the exercise went well.

"A lot was happening real fast, but there were no major crashes," Woloszyn said. "I saw lots of initiative, and that's important."

The depot employees take the exercise very seriously and prepare for it during the year through monthly drills, he said.

"This is our Super Bowl, and all the sites get looked at very carefully," Woloszyn said. "They know this is the time to shine."

Even Woloszyn's boss, Dr. John Ferriter of Soldier Biological Chemical Command, who is in charge of all the chemical operations, was on hand for the event.

Ferriter said he was impressed with the emergency management response during the exercise. It was the first time Ferriter physically had followed an exercise from start to finish.

"I was at the start at the bunker and followed through the decon lines to the Emergency Operations Center (at the depot) and to the (Emergency Operations Center) in Pendleton," Ferriter said. "Everyone knew what they were supposed to do, and they just did it, even with all the evaluators watching."

 

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