Only a test

By Nathan Solheimn
Assistant Metro Editor
03-10-2004

Emergency management officials and first responders will test their response to a simulated chemical weapons accident or incident at the Anniston Army Depot today. Wide-ranging exercises covering six counties under the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program — Calhoun, Cleburne, Clay, Talladega, St. Clair and Etowah — will simulate a chemical agent release and have their response evaluated by federal authorities. Emergency sirens and tone-alert radios will not sound. The exercise is to test emergency response officials only. The exercise commences this morning and will test the Calhoun County Emergency Management Agency’s staff, various first responders and institutions that respond, said Dan Long, director of Calhoun County Emergency Management Agency. The EMA will staff its emergency operations center, known as “the pit,” and work through a simulation of an incident large enough to cause chemical agent to reach a significant distance into the six-county area. The Army also will exercise its response capabilities at the Anniston Army Depot. The Alabama National Guard at McClellan also will practice its response during the exercise. Out in the community, hospitals, the Calhoun County Highway Department, the Calhoun County Sheriff’s office and several local schools and emergency responders will participate in the exercise. “This is like putting together the Lord of the Rings,” said Cathy Coleman, spokeswoman for the Anniston Chemical Activity at the depot. “There’s so much logistical things to put together. We don’t know exactly what the scenario will be and they’ll look at things to make sure we do what we’re supposed to do.” Coleman was referring to about 180 evaluators from across the country that will descend on Anniston to make sure everyone is following the emergency preparedness plan. Army evaluators will look at how Army officials handle the exercise within the depot, while officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency will look at the community response. Coleman said some evaluators will come from other communities that have chemical weapons disposal sites, such as Pine Bluff, Ark.; Umatilla, Ore.; Tooele, Utah., and Richmond, Ky. Children at Golden Springs, Alexandria, Wellborn, Randolph Park and Faith Christian elementary schools will practice protective measures. No high schools will take part in the exercise because this is a testing week for high schools. Jackie Sparks, superintendent of Calhoun County Schools, said the students will hear an alarm and move to their schools’ overpressurized room. Once they are inside, the room’s air filters will be started as if it were a real chemical event. Sparks said the school response has become routine for students, teachers and administrators. He said during the last exercise, all participants in the county school system had moved to overpressurized rooms and were accounted for within four minutes. “It’s just like a fire drill or a severe-weather drill,” Sparks said. After the exercise ends, the various parties will receive evaluations, Coleman said. The scenario will mimic that of a “maximum credible event,” which depends on what kind of work plan the chemical weapons incinerator and storage area have for a particular day, what the weather conditions are during the incident, and a number of other factors. The incinerator will have a small role in the exercise and will practice worker safety, Coleman said. Long said the county has generally fared well in past exercises, but he said participants learn something knew every year. “All the exercises I’ve been involved in, we’ve been fine,” Long said. “They go through and evaluate us and we keep improving and improving.” Long said residents will be trained in what to do in case of accident with continued public information efforts. “That’s the next step we have to work on, right now the plan is for them to pick up equipment and get their shelter-in-place kits and videos and getting the information out to them,” Long said. “We’re working on a public information campaign to get more information out to them.”

About Nathan Solheim

Assistant Metro Editor Nathan Solheim is Minnesota native and a University of Georgia graduate.