Anniston Star
June 19, 2003

No rush for masks: Few residents have picked up their protective gear

By Sara Clemence
Star Staff Writer
06-19-2003

About half the eligible Calhoun County residents have picked up masks intended to help protect them from an accidental release of chemical agent from the Anniston Army Depot, officials said this week.

The county has spent $13.7 million on protective equipment, and has mounted an extensive advertising campaign over the past two months to notify residents the equipment is available.

But as of Monday, about 10,500 of the 22,000 protective hoods intended for people who live closest to the depot had been picked up from the distribution center at McClellan, said David Ford, spokesman for the Calhoun County Emergency Management Agency.

The county has been giving hoods, mini-fridge-sized air filters, and shelter-in-place kits containing plastic and scissors to pink-zone residents (those living in a defined area nearest the incinerator) since April 9, he said.

A month later, it started giving out air filters and kits to residents of the immediate-response zone, which is just outside the pink zone. Starting at the end of May, anyone in the county could pick up equipment at the center in McClellan. But so far, relatively few have.

In total, about 13,481 Calhoun County residents, or a little more than a tenth of the population, have picked up any gear at all. Also:

• The EMA purchased 22,000 adult hoods, at a cost of $4.95 million. About 10,500 have been given out.
  
• The EMA ordered 750 infant hoods, for $168,750, and have given out 275.
  
• The EMA spent $7.3 million on 20,000 air filters, and have given out just over 7,000.
  
• The EMA has 40,000 shelter-in-place kits, which cost a total of $893,600. Fewer than 8,000 have been distributed.

"There's really not a good reason for people not to have the equipment in their home," Ford said. "It's like the airbag in your vehicle - you hope it's never needed, but if something happens, it's there."

The equipment is being distributed under the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program, which is funded by the Army and administered by the county through the EMA.

About 7 percent of the nation's chemical weapons stockpile is stored in igloos at the Depot. In 2001, Army contractors completed a billion-dollar incinerator for destroying the weapons, which contain nerve and blister agent. Army officials have said they hope to start operating the incinerator on a limited basis this summer.

Ford said there has been no increase in visits to the distribution center, despite recent Army moves to begin burning.

"There have been a few times when something would happen and we said, 'Well we may see a spike,'" he said. "It just didn't happen."

Meanwhile, people who have come to get their equipment - a process that takes about 30 minutes for pink-zone residents but less for people who live farther from the depot - have been asking for additional items.

The center has many requests for masks for pets and for visitors, said John Reutter, director of training services for the county's contractor.

"At the beginning, we probably had three or four requests like that a day," he said.
They can only suggest private companies that sell the equipment.

"We just explain that we're under contract and we just follow the regulations that were set up by the EMA," he said.

Glenda Anderson, 45, who lives in the pink zone, picked up her equipment in May. She has a room in her house with the windows already sealed, and a list of things for her children to do in the event of an emergency.

But she still sees the exercise as a "waste of time."

There are the children who come to stay with her, for whom she has no protective gear.

"Are you just going to pass (masks) out to your own children and tell these other children they're on their own?" she said.

She doesn't think a full-scale accident will happen, and believes that residents are more likely to be harmed by long-term, low-level emissions from incinerating chemical weapons.

"I think there are safer ways to do this," she said. She believes the Army should use another method, neutralization, to get rid of the deadly weapons.

"I don't think we'll ever need them," said Scott Frame, who watched Tuesday as workers at the distribution center loaded air filters and shelter-in-place kits into the back of his car.

"I hope not," said his sister, Neal Frame.

Still, Scott Frame observed of the air filters, "They couldn't give us one for the office, which is ridiculous. Half your waking time, you're at work."

In Umatilla, Ore., another chemical weapons storage site, the protective equipment has been distributed differently, and more thoroughly. There, the local fire department went door-to-door to give out some items, said Meg Capps, program manager for the Umatilla County CSEPP program. Shelter-in-place kits were mailed to all households.

"The credibility of the program has increased because of that," Capps said.
Here, picking up equipment is a matter of knowing about it, wanting it, and finding the time to get it.

"I've been intending to go," said Anita Brown, 44, who lives alone in the pink zone. "I know I should."

She said it was difficult to coordinate the center's hours with her changing work hours. But since the incinerator is going to start up, it's more urgent to her.

"I want it," she said. "I guess I need to go do it in the morning."