Everything fine after false alarm

This story was published Wed, Aug 16, 2000

By Mary Hopkin
Herald Oregon bureau

HERMISTON - Anyone who tuned their radio dials to 1610 AM on Tuesday afternoon would have heard alarming news.

A message stating Highway 395 was closed because of an accident at the Umatilla Chemical Depot was inadvertently aired on the emergency information radio station.

Korenza Burris of Benton County Emergency Services, said the mistake was made during a routine test of the traffic advisory sign's radio message.

There are two traffic advisory signs in Benton County, one on Highway 395 north of Pasco near Preston Winery, and another on Interstate 82 near Benton City.

Burris said that in an emergency, the yellow lights flash on the traffic signs, telling motorists to tune their radios to 1610 AM for an emergency message.

Although Burris said officials aren't sure if the yellow lights were flashing, at least one person heard the message and called a local radio station asking for information about an accident at the Umatilla Chemical Depot.

The radio station then called Army representative Mary Binder to find out what was going on.

"Our guys got the call ... and we immediately starting calling people and tried to track the source of the problem," said Depot Commander Tom Woloszyn. "I'm pretty proud of the way they handled it."

But the source of the problem still is unknown.

"It could have been a mechanical error," Burris said. "We were doing routine testing earlier in the day and were able to send a test message that worked fine.

"As soon as we found out we turned the messages off. We are extremely sorry and are looking into what caused it," she added.

Burris said the Benton County Emergency Services didn't receive any calls from the public about the problem, and the Depot only received the lone call.

Cheryl Humphrey, of the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program, said the mistake was unfortunate but also was a good test for those in the CSEPP program.

Humphrey said that in December, when the Depot sirens were accidentally activated, many CSEPP personnel didn't know what they were supposed to do or whom to contact.

This time, things went much smoother, she said.

"Immediately, everyone was notified and knew what was going on," Humphrey said.

 

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