PB ARSENAL PREPARES WITH FINAL DRILL

By Larry Ault/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF

At 9:02 a.m. Wednesday, a simulated accident occurred at the Pine Bluff Arsenal during routine operations while loading nerve-agent filled rockets onto a container being moved to the Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility.

Six Arsenal employees were reported "injured" in the mock accident and treated on base. Non-essential Arsenal personnel were evacuated while staff at the National Center for Toxicological Research were taking shelter and the disposal facility was evacuated.

At the Jefferson County emergency command center under the courthouse, county Judge Jack Jones met with a tour that included three areas where reporters were briefed on the simulated events.

"In a real life situation, if anything had gotten off the base, it wouldn't have gotten off until 9:48 a.m.," Jones explained from emergency headquarters, where representatives of White Hall, Pine Bluff, Jefferson County and other local law enforcement agencies gathered.

"My family is all in the immediate response zone," Jones said, assuring the media he wasn't worried about the danger.

The Pine Bluff Arsenal is one of eight sites that house the nation's reserve of stockpile chemical weapons, which must be destroyed by a 2012 international treaty deadline. The Arsenal is preparing to begin incinerating its stock of aging weapons later this month.

Wednesday's media tour focused on the off-post response. The tour members watched officials directing the emergency response at the courthouse, public information officers at the Arkansas Joint Information Center and emergency responders decontaminating mock chemical agent exposure victims at Jefferson Regional Medical Center.

The scene at JRMC was dramatic as hospital personnel began receiving patients and preparing decontamination procedures following notification of a mock rocket explosion and release of the nerve agent G5 at the Arsenal.

Tents and decontamination showers were set up outside the emergency room to receive patients and additional employees, including on-call workers, reported to duty at the hospital to meet the increased demand caused by the incident.

By 11:10 a.m., 17 people had arrived at the emergency room for treatment as part of the exercise and were waiting to be taken through the decontamination showers.

"Because of the potential for contamination, everyone who comes to the hospital for emergency care will go through the decon tents outside before being treated," said Julie Bridgforth, director of marketing at JRMC.