Anniston Star
September 26, 2003

Suspicious package raises alarm at weapons incinerator

By Nathan Solheim
Star Staff Writer
09-26-2003

A suspicious package found by a worker in the parking lot of the Anniston Chemical Disposal Facility Thursday afternoon turned out to be a wall clock.

The 722nd Explosive Ordnance Company from the Anniston Army Depot was called in and blocked off the parking lot, preventing about 250 workers from leaving the compound for nearly two hours, until the package was identified and removed.

The incinerator at the depot is charged with destroying 2,254 tons of Cold War-era chemical munitions stored in igloos there since the early 1960s. Workers at the controversial facility have been destroying munitions since early August.

Officials at the facility reported no injuries from the episode.

“I saw no impatience and no panic,” said Army spokesman Mike Abrams. “I saw hundreds of patient, professional employees.”

The package, Abrams said, was left at the front of an incinerator worker’s car. Abrams couldn’t say how the package got there.

The incident caused the cancellation of a Cleburne County meeting that had been set up to answer residents’ questions about incineration. Abrams was the scheduled speaker, but was busy instead with the incident. Four residents showed up for the meeting. A public information officer for the county commission said the session will be rescheduled.

The incident, which occurred around 4:30 p.m., did not affect incinerator operations, Abrams said, and the rest of the depot was unaffected by the incident.

The Calhoun County Emergency Management Agency was notified of the incident immediately, according to interim EMA Director Delois Champ. “We notified the commission and then let them know everything was OK later on,” she said. “There was no need for any further notice until they knew what they were dealing with.”

Abrams said workers were not processing M-55 rockets filled with deadly GB nerve agent at the time of the package’s discovery, and it was too early in the day to operate the liquid incinerator, which destroys the bulk liquid agent drained from the rockets.

Abrams said operations would continue at the incinerator Thursday night.

When pressed for information on the incinerator’s emergency procedure in such an event, Abrams declined to give any details.

“I have not been in on every planning meeting,” Abrams said. “I don’t want to speculate on what my manager would do if something like this happens again.”

Abrams said, however, that ANCDF employees are told to look for anything suspicious and call security if need be.

“The depot security folks and the explosive ordnance soldiers did what they’ve been trained to do, and the ANCDF employees did what they were trained to do,” Abrams said. “All of the circumstances made us react in a safety-conscious manner.”