LATEST NEWS
Saturday, May 07, 2005
CSEPP to hold annual
drill
By
The East Oregonian
eonews@eastoregonian.com
When chimes sound Tuesday
around the Umatilla Chemical Depot, don’t be an alarmed. It’s only a drill
— but a mighty big one.
The annual Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program drill
will involve emergency agencies, hospitals and schools close to the depot
and not so close.
The exercise will start with a simulated chemical emergency at the
Umatilla Chemical Depot and demonstrate emergency preparedness activities
throughout the communities surrounding the depot. Sirens will sound and test
exercise messages will be displayed, although the precise time of the drill
is not announced beforehand. The public will hear Westminster Chimes on the
sirens in Umatilla and Morrow County, as well as southern Benton County,
Wash., across the Columbia River.
During the early stages of the exercise, Morrow and Umatilla counties
in Oregon will test outdoor sirens, highway message reader boards, tone alert
radios and send Emergency Alert System test messages to local radio and television
stations. Highway advisory radio systems will also be tested.
Participants in the drill will include first responders, emergency
management personnel and volunteers from all three counties, the states of
Washington and Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation.
School children in communities surrounding the depot will be involved
in shelter-in-place and evacuation drills earlier in the day, before the
actual drill begins.
Once the sirens sound, exercise officials plan to set up decontamination
stations at the Hermiston Community Center, Good Shepherd Medical Center
in Hermiston, St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton, the Boardman rest stop,
Lexington Public Works Compound and Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Heppner.
The American Red Cross will set up shelters in six communities surrounding
the depot. The Oregon counties will be activating reception centers at Wildhorse
Casino near Pendleton and at the old Kinzua plant just outside Heppner. Additionally,
an American Red Cross Emergency Communications Response Vehicle will participate
in the exercise at the Umatilla County Criminal Justice building in west
Pendleton.
The Joint Information Center at the Criminal Justice Building will
be activated to respond to mock public and media phone calls.
Benton County Emergency Management officials will simulate disaster
response activities in the Plymouth and Paterson areas.
Residents and businesses are encouraged to practice their disaster
plans during the event.
Federal, state and other evaluators will observe and evaluate the
drill. A review of the exercise is planned Friday.