Hospital would close doors in emergency

This story was published Tue, May 7, 2002

By the Herald staff

Don't try to go to the hospital or a school if there's a release of chemical weapons at the Umatilla Chemical Depot.

They'll be locked up tight for the first hour.

And emergency officials say that's what everyone should do in communities such as Irrigon, Umatilla, Hermiston and Boardman. Doing otherwise, they say, could endanger their own and others' lives.

Here's what officials say should happen if there was an accident:

n Army officials would have 10 minutes to notify community emergency officials.

n Hermiston Safety Center dispatchers would issue an "all call" page to emergency managers in Umatilla, Benton and Morrow counties, and the Umatilla tribes.

n Within six minutes, alarm systems would be activated. That includes tone alert radios, sirens, highway reader boards and television and radio emergency alerts. Traffic would be diverted along Interstate 84, Interstate 82, Highway 730 and other access roads.

n Benton County emergency planners would start to evacuate people living along the river near the depot.

n People in Irrigon, Umatilla, Hermiston and Boardman would be urged to seek safety indoors and listen to their radios. The hospital and schools would be closed. Cheryl Humphrey, spokeswoman for Umatilla County Chemical Stockpile Preparedness Program, said the longest anyone should plan to shelter in place is a couple of hours.

 

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