Anniston Star
July 29, 2003

Getting prepared: More than 30 schools protected

By Sara Clemence
Star Staff Writer
07-29-2003

Special measures for protecting people from deadly chemicals have been taken at a third of the designated schools, medical centers and other facilities in the Anniston area, according to a list released by the Army Corps of Engineers.

The list updates the status of 49 institutions where the corps is fitting weatherproofing, filtration and pressurization equipment in case of a chemical weapons accident at the Anniston Army Depot.

The list includes more than 30 schools, three detention centers and two hospitals, all within a 12-mile radius of the depot. Of those, 16 facilities have been finished. The rest are in progress.

All are expected to be done by October at latest, within the $42 million budget, said Denny Tutwiler, project manager for the Army Corps of Engineers.

About 7 percent of the nation's chemical weapons stockpile is stored in concrete bunkers at the depot, awaiting destruction in a controversial incinerator.

The Army hopes to fire up the incinerator this summer, but is currently in negotiations with Gov. Bob Riley.

The Army wants the governor to give his go-ahead to an interim operations plan, which would limit incinerator activities until the schools are fully protected. Under the plan, chemical agent would only be burned at night.

Riley wants the power to shut the facility down if there is a problem, or the Army does not live up to its promises, including a commitment to finish the school protection work. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, demanded the protection earlier this year as a condition for his support of the incinerator.

Some of the facilities are being given "enhanced shelter-in-place" capability. Doors and windows are being made more air-tight, and in some cases special air filters are being installed.

At others, a room such as an auditorium is being over-pressurized. The air pressure inside is higher than outside, making it impossible for airborne contaminants to get in.

"Over-pressurization is what's considered the maximum protection," Tutwiler said.

Some said they are satisfied with the work, or will be once the preparations are complete.

"I'm content with it, you know, if they meet that [October] deadline," said Louis Higgins, superintendent for Oxford City Schools. His system has four schools on the list.

Others have concerns about the projects. And nearly everyone The Anniston Star interviewed said they wish the project had been handled long ago. In 1998, The Star reported that the entire endeavor was expected to take 24 months.

"I wish this had been done years ago," said Mike Fincher, director of safety and security for Calhoun County Schools. In the past few years, schools were added to and removed from the list, there were delays and red tape and public outcry against federal decision-makers, he said.

"They waited up until the last minute to do this," Fincher said.

The county schools have been made somewhat impervious to outside air, he said, and there has been an emergency plan in place in case of a depot accident.

"Once we have the over-pressurization units in place and operational at Ohatchee, Weaver and Saks, I feel confident that we're as safe as we possible could be," Fincher said, noting that the Corps has done excellent work.

The corps is turning Stringfellow Memorial Hospital into a shelter-in-place facility, with additional filtration systems for the emergency room and operating room, said Ken Nichols, the hospital's plant operations director.

The work started there in January, he said.

"They have given us what they've proposed," Nichols said. "I feel like they could go a little step further, but that's kind of my opinion."

While Nichols believes patients are safe, there is still room for human error, he said.

Some areas, including patient rooms, have through-the-wall air conditioners, he said. Although the ventilation systems in the operating and emergency rooms can be activated with a button, air conditioners in other rooms need to be shut off individually, by hand.

"It's like I tell them, you've got one air conditioner that's not turned off and you have a hole in the hospital," Nichols said. "I hate for them to spend all this money and it doesn't do us any good."

At Regional Medical Center, doors and windows are being weather-tightened, and a separate, filtered ventilation system is being installed, said George Dudchock, director of biomedical services and safety.

The emergency room's decontamination area is also being upgraded with airtight chambers, so that people can come in and out without allowing chemical agent in.

"I feel good with what's going on at the hospital as safety director," Dudchock said. "I feel that we're ready for any type of accident and we'll be even more prepared after Oct. 1".

He said he felt that the preparations are now necessary with the impending incinerator startup.

"I guess the history has proven the Army correct ­ we didn't need it two years ago," Dudchock said. "I'm all for it because of the extra handling. I feel like once they take it out of the igloo you increase the risk."

The executive director of Coosa Valley Youth Services voiced his concerns in The Star last week. Among Mike Rollins' complaints were that the sealing system didn't work when it was tested, a roof that could leak chemicals wasn't completely replaced, staffers had not been given training or manuals, and workers had to manually switch to a backup power generator.

Monday, Tutwiler said, "I can understand his position."

He said that the sealing problem had been repaired, and that maintenance contractors would be visiting each facility monthly to make sure things were in working order. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which oversees the protective work, does not repair roofs that have reached the end of their life span and need fixing anyway, he said.

Tutwiler also said that Coosa Valley staffers had been given training, and that simple directions for the over-pressurization system are posted above the activation button.

The generator, he said, was meant to be turned on when maintenance workers came in from another building.

"Since we gave him full backup power, we thought it would save us the money on the transfer switch," Tutwiler said. The automatic switch is $50,000, he said.

"We have tried to accommodate them as much as we could," he said later by e-mail. "But we have been limited by FEMA's/Army's policy on what we could do... We have to be very careful on how we spend the [program] funds."