Attention! This is only a test

This story was published Sun, Jan 28, 2001

By Mary Hopkin
Herald Oregon bureau

HERMISTON - It was another dreary, dull, overcast winter day at the Umatilla Chemical Depot - that is, until the antiquated white rotary phone began to ring, signaling an emergency.

Suddenly, the two-story, brick headquarters building, usually library-quiet, was abuzz with activity.

Army employees and their civilian counterparts headed for the depot's emergency operations center.

The depot sirens started to whoop, causing a few dogs across base to bark. Although it was just a test, everybody involved treated Wednesday's drill as if it was real.

The exercise is the only way to really make sure depot employees are prepared for an actual emergency, said Lt. Col. Tom Woloszyn, depot commander.

That's also why Woloszyn likes having the "battle drills."

There are at least 1,001 different types of emergencies that could take place at the depot, and he said he wants to make sure his people are as trained as possible.

"We are required to have them once a quarter, but the closer we get to the May exercise, the more we will have," Woloszyn said.

The all-inclusive, yearly May exercise includes emergency personnel from Umatilla and Morrow counties with depot employees.

It's planned throughout the year by Woloszyn, county emergency personnel and the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program.

But it's during these quarterly drills Woloszyn really gets to have fun. He devises the scenarios and throws in a few curve balls, just to keep everyone on their toes.

Wednesday's event was even more special.

Steve Shannon, chief of the Army's force protection unit in Springfield, La., was on hand to evaluate the exercise.

Also there was Lt. Col. Ben Hagar, the new commander at the Pine Bluff, Ark., depot, who is preparing for his own yearly exercise, which is set for Feb. 14.

Woloszyn planned Wednesday's incident to take place later in the day to test equipment and his personnel and see how they will do in situations with limited vision.

He also threw in a couple of terrorists and a hostage situation to test his Special Reaction Team, the Army's equivalent of a SWAT team.

Once the exercise started, and everyone took his or her post in the command center, it was easy to believe it was all real.

From inside the emergency operations center, 25 or so workers - a mix of Army officers, civilian employees of the Army and Washington Demilitarization Group workers - huddled around computers. Washington Demilitarization Group is the Army contractor charged with building the incinerator plant that will destroy the 3,717 tons of chemical weapons stored at the depot, seven miles west of Hermiston.

The people in the command center listened intently to the conversations taking place over the two-way radios. As each piece of news came across the radios, it was documented on a board on the north wall of the center.

On the wall was a single monitor has captured the attention of most of the group.

A camera, mounted on the fence bordering K-Block, where the chemical weapons are stored, was focused on igloo 1898 and the activity surrounding the sod-covered storage unit.

Then Woloszyn's mock emergency scenario unfolded.

An incinerator sub-contractor employee reportedly had a heart attack. But when he was taken to the clinic at the incinerator site, he took a hostage. He killed the hostage but was captured and handed over to the Oregon State Police.

Less than a half-mile away, another terrorist broke into the igloo K-Block where 2,000 VX land mines are stored. This second terrorist killed an employee and opened fire on the land mines, puncturing several that sprayed their contents - nerve agent - over several other depot employees working in the area.

The nerve agent VX must contact the skin to be harmful, and at that point it can become deadly.

The terrorist then carried a land mine outside the igloo, where he released the mine's nerve agent.

As information came in, Marty Yakawich, the emergency operations coordinator, updated the depot's employees, who, in turn, updated county and state officials.

Three hours into the event, a mock press conference was held with Yakawich, Woloszyn and Ron Lamoreaux, civilian executive assistant.

The exercise helped the trio practice their skills answering a plethora of questions while giving out as little information as possible.

By 6:30 p.m., the mock terrorists had been captured, three depot employees had been killed and the employees in the emergency operations were looking a little weary.

Woloszyn's eyes shone bright with excitement, as he headed out to talk to the men on the Special Reaction Team and thank them for a job well done.

"It went well, I think," Woloszyn said. "We learned a few things, like those nice light sets we have (at K-Block) send off lots of smoke that might make it hard to see. And we may need a four-wheel drive to haul the mobile filter units, or they could get stuck."

Of course, there always are mistakes and hitches in simulations. But it's the only way to find the weak spots, fix them, and become better, Woloszyn said.

 

Copyright 2002 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.