Anniston Star
August 1, 2002

FEMA mulls safety plans for schools

By Matthew Creamer
Star Staff Writer

Federal officials are weighing a proposal that could equip several Calhoun County schools with systems that would make them airtight in the event of a chemical weapons accident.

The proposal, which is being reviewed by high-ranking officials at the Federal Emergency
Management Agency, would protect schools up to eight miles from the chemical weapons area at the Anniston Army Depot. Yet even if the plan wins the agency's approval, its implementation will depend on the availability of tens of millions of dollars required to fund the project.

Although a FEMA official confirmed the deliberations and a vague outline of the plan, few details were available. Not even state EMA personnel, who have received only a verbal presentation of the plan, could say which schools would get the equipment without having it mapped out.

To be sure, the radius now being considered is roughly one mile short of the one requested by Calhoun County officials. Gov. Don Siegelman has supported the county's request, demanding it in a lawsuit he brought against the Army and FEMA in February.

The current proposal, which has been said to have a price tag of about $45 million, is apparently a whittled-down version of the county's list of 37 schools and other facilities. How much has been whittled off remains unclear.

County EMA officials were unavailable for comment late Wednesday.

In a letter to a FEMA official in Atlanta, Alabama EMA director Lee Helms urged a quick decision to protect against the potential chaos that could arise during an accident.

"County EMA is convinced that until parents are comfortable that their children can remain at school and be safe, these parents will not agree to shelter in place themselves and will instead descend on schools in an attempt to 'rescue' their children," he wrote in a letter dated July 30.

"By doing so, the parents will place themselves and their children at greater risk," he wrote. The county's list includes 37 facilities. Among them are nursing homes, jails, hospitals and schools in Anniston, Oxford, Saks, Weaver and Ohatchee. Schools in Bynum, Wellborn and Alexandria already have been overpressurized.

This equipment pumps clean air into sealed-off parts of the buildings so that no contaminated air can enter.

In April, the Army Corps of Engineers, after performing tests on the schools to determine what form of protection they need, issued a report recommending that no additional schools receive the equipment.