He's not a Fuller Brush man, nor was he selling encyclopedias. Nahol, an outreach specialist with the Army's Outreach Office in Hermiston, spent the afternoon talking to people about the Umatilla Chemical Depot and the incinerator, which, on Tuesday, will have been operating for six months.

It's Nahol's job to explain to people what is happening at the depot as the incinerator destroys its stockpile of chemical weapons and answers their questions. He talked to 59 people that day in Boardman.

Nahol goes door to door a couple of times a week trying to reach people that other Army and Chemical Emergency Stockpile Preparedness Programs outreach efforts have missed, especially in the Hispanic community.

But the information is important. And a little knowledge could be the difference between living and dying if a leak or disaster took place at the depot.

It is expected to take about 10 years to destroy the depot's stockpile of 220,604 munitions and containers filled with 7.4 million pounds of deadly nerve and mustard agents. The cache includes the most M55 rockets of the eight U.S. sites.

Three years ago a study showed that many Spanish speakers in the communities surrounding the depot knew very little about the program, so Nahol, whose first language is Spanish, started taking information to people.

Many Hispanics live in the area temporarily, providing seasonal farm work, he said. They also often are working from early in the morning to late at night and easily could have missed hearing about the depot and how to deal with a disaster.

Now it appears Nahol's tactics are working. More understand the meaning of "shelter in place," or finding a safe room in a home and sealing it off from potentially contaminated outside air.

He said after going door to door for three years, "we find more people know what is going on."

That night, Nahol gave a presentation to a small group from a Hermiston apartment complex. He was joined by Maria Durn, who works as a liaison with Hispanic community for Morrow County Emergency Management.

Nahol discussed the history of the depot, which started destroying M55 rockets filled with GB sarin Sept. 8.

Durn explained how different chemical agents can affect people and the emergency preparations the community has taken.

Magdalena Portugal peppered the two with questions. Why did it take so long to start destroying the weapons? What was the most dangerous chemical agent stored at the site? What part of the house was the safest in which to shelter in place? How could she find out what was happening at the depot?

Durn and Nahol answered her questions, explaining the startup delays, what the different chemicals did, where to shelter and told her about a depot hotline.

After the presentation, she immediately used an office phone to dial 1-888-866-5928, an information line that provides information on the depot's activities. The hotline, which has information in English and Spanish, lists how much chemical agent and how many rockets have been destroyed and when the incinerator is running.

Portugal, speaking through an interpreter, said she had seen the presentation before but still had questions. She said the presentation helped answer her questions about why the startup was delayed.

Another in the audience was Fidel Vasquez. He said he had not known much about the nearby depot but felt it was important to learn more about it. Afterward, he said he felt better having heard the presentation and wanted to continue getting updates.

Portugal said she had moved to Hermiston about a year ago from California, where people stocked food and water in case of an earthquake. She said when she heard about sheltering in place the thought, "Here we go again."

She said she appreciated the outreach efforts and knowing that her kids were safe in their schools in case of an emergency. Now, she said it was her job to let her children know they were safe at school and she would be OK, too.

Portugal took a stack of pamphlets with emergency preparation information when she left. She said she would hand them out to people she knew and also would be giving people the information line's phone number.

Lilly Larson, manager of the Hacienda West apartment complex in which the meeting was held, said outreach workers gave the same presentation two years earlier. But she said it was a good thing because her complex had a high tenant turnover.

All the units come with a tone-alert radios, which sound an alarm in case of a chemical emergency, and shelter-in-pace kits.

Alarcon said those often wind up in storage. "A lot of people don't know what they are for," she said.

Nahol said that white families often ask him: "Are more weapons going to be brought to the depot?" He said Hispanic families want more information about what is going on and reassurance that they are safe.

Nahol said when people first learn about the depot, he often can see concern in their eyes. But he said once he answers questions, they often felt better about it.

Not everyone is satisfied.

Karyn Jones, executive director of group GASP, the Hermiston-based incineration opponent, said she remains "totally skeptical" about the depot's progress. While GASP had anticipated the facility would have mechanical problems, mistakes made by the workers have raised other concerns, she said.

"It brings into question how well the workers have been trained," Jones said.

She said she would still like to see the facility switch to a neutralization process to destroy the chemical weapons. Jones said every time there is a problem at the depot, she gets a surge in people calling, asking why it hasn't been stopped.

She said people she talks to appear to be more skeptical now, especially since the Army is studying the possibility of importing more weapons from other depot sites and destroying them -- something the community was explicitly told would not happen and that many oppose.

Even the region's emergency management groups are shifting focus now that the incinerator is operating. Those groups had been working to get projects like a tactical radio and wireless Internet systems complete before the startup.

Chris Brown, Oregon Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program manager, said goals include getting money for details like an evacuation route, with signs that point the way and road improvements, and setting up a system to replace emergency alert equipment as it ages.

CSEPP is looking more closely at what would happen in the 12 to 24 hours after an incident and how to handle it. That includes where people will go when evacuated and what to do once they get there.