News

SHELTER KITS ON TAP FOR HANDOUT

By Ray King/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Friday, June 1, 2007 11:20 PM CDT

Special bags designed to allow residents around the Pine Bluff Arsenal to "shelter in place" in the event of a chemical emergency will be given away today and again next week by the Jefferson County Office of Emergency Management.

"If there is an incident at the arsenal, one of the recommendations might be to shelter in place and everything a person needs to do that is in the bag," said Beth Dial, deputy coordinator of OEM. "People can also add items to the bag like food, clothing and medical supplies and make it a full fledged disaster preparedness kit."

The large blue bags contain duct tape, plastic sheeting, a combination flashlight, AM-FM radio, scissors and a measuring tape.

"The plastic sheeting is to be used to cover open doors, windows and vents in the room people choose to shelter in place in," Dial said. "It can be a bathroom or other small room, but people need to remember, the more windows and doors to the outside the room has, the more sheeting they will have to use."

The combination flashlight radio comes with batteries, but Dial said it also has a crank which can be used for additional power if the batteries give out in an emergency.

She recommended measuring the doors and windows in advance, then cutting the plastic sheeting to fit them and marking each sheet with the location where it is to be used, then placing it back in the bag.

"There are other situations where these kits can be used also," Dial said. "Think about the possibility of a train derailment that results in chemicals leaking, or an accident on the expressway involving an 18-wheeler."

The shelter in place kits will be offered free to those people living in zones A through J around the arsenal in Jefferson County from noon to 4 p.m. today, and from 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Joint Information Center Office at 123 Main St.

Grant County residents who live in zones K and L can pick up a kit at the Grant County Office of Emergency Management during the same hours.

Dial said additional dates to distribute the kits will be set up if needed.

"This is essentially the same kit that was given away at some of the other chemical disposal sites and it came about after a lot of studies, public comments and the like," said Wally Hunt, Jefferson County OEM coordinator.

Hunt said the kits "obviously don't take the place of a well organized plan but they're simply a precautionary measure."

Currently, the arsenal is retooling its equipment and preparing to dispose of VX nerve agent stored at the facility this fall.

"We've gotten rid of the GB so things are safer than they were but it still never hurts to be prepared," Hunt said.