ARMY PROBE TO EXAMINE RASH OF FIRES

By Larry Ault/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Thursday,  May 26, 2005  10:36 AM CDT

The Army has initiated an "in-depth and comprehensive" investigation into fires occurring at chemical weapons incinerators in Pine Bluff and Umatilla, Ore.

In recent weeks, three fires have occurred at the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Oregon and two fires at the Pine Bluff Arsenal.

All five of the fires have occurred while processing drained, GB-filled M55 rockets.

"There was never any danger of any agent release to the environment and no personnel have been injured," the Army said Wednesday.

The statement said that explosive containment rooms and other safeguards worked properly. The comprehensive assessment will look into the "integrity of the explosive containment rooms as well as investigating potential issues with the propellant and associated rockets parts," the agency statement said.

"The formation of this comprehensive assessment is in its infancy," the statement said.

Officials of the Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Facility at the Arsenal said the investigation did not stop processing Wednesday.

"We are still processing," said Raini K. Wright, a spokeswoman for the facility. "The investigation did not halt our processing."

Wright said the facility processed 330 rockets on Tuesday and destroyed 1,496 pounds of chemical agent. Wright didn't provide any numbers on amounts processed on Wednesday.

The possibility of a fire and detonation during M55 rocket processing was recognized during the design of the disposal facilities and explosive containment rooms were "specifically designed to safely contain such events," the Army said.

In all the cases when a fire occurred, the systems and safeguards designed into the facilities and the explosive containment rooms functioned as designed, the statement said.

Umatilla reported fires while processing rockets on April 7, April 23 and May 18. Pine Bluff experienced similar fires on May 11 and Sunday.

All other sites have experienced similar fires in rocket processing, but "the frequency of the fires at both Umatilla and Pine Bluff has raised questions," the Army said.

Michael Parker, director of the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency, directed the agency to "begin a comprehensive investigation due to the frequency of these recent fires and the possibility of their continued occurrence."

The agency "is committed to the safe destruction of the nation's chemical weapons stockpile," Parker said. "To support our commitments, we built safety mechanisms and procedures into our facilities. These mechanisms and procedures have worked as designed."

"While these anomalies are planned for in our plant design, recent frequency of fires has given rise to the agency performing a comprehensive investigation," he said. "We've had these situations before and have learned from them. ... The current frequency might be indicative of a potential change in something in the stockpile."