BOARDMAN -- The Rodriguezes are a special case, one of the families Maria Duron and Maureen Roxbury with Morrow County Emergency Management visit to talk about a possible chemical weapons accident at the Umatilla Chemical Depot.

The two women recently visited Armida Rodriguez, 53, and her husband Refugio, 50, at their Boardman home because Armida is one of many who answered a survey last fall indicating someone in her home could not care for himself in an emergency.

As the Army prepares to begin incinerating its chemical stockpile, perhaps as early as Aug. 18, officials are making sure everyone is as prepared as possible.

Armida explained that her husband is legally blind, suffers from diabetes and has kidney problems. She said he is never left home alone and rarely leaves his bedroom except to go to Hermiston for dialysis three times a week.

Roxbury said it's the county's job to explain to folks like the Rodriguez family how to use their emergency tone alert radio and shelter-in-place kit should there be a release of deadly chemicals at the depot.

She gave Rodriguez a packet of information and suggested the couple use the master bedroom as a refuge where they could seal themselves in against a deadly gas cloud.

Roxbury and Duron said they have made 37 such house calls, and 83 phone calls to Morrow County residents in the past six months. They suggest families precut plastic from their shelter-in-place kits to cover the windows and doors of their safe room so they will be able to act quickly in an emergency.

As the depot readies to start incineration, emergency agencies are feeling confident.

"Preparation is in really good shape," said Hermiston Police Chief Dan Coulombe, adding he has no major concerns about his department's ability to respond to an emergency.

Federal money has provided his department with lots of training and such state-of-the-art gear as a special tactical radio system that links all area emergency agencies, special traffic light controls and wireless Internet access.

Umatilla County Commissioner Dennis Doherty feels the same way. After seven years of training exercises, "scores and scores and scores of people" are ready to deal with an emergency and millions of federal dollars have been spent equipping them, he said.

"I don't worry about the thing, personally. I sleep well at night," he said.

And Doherty thinks the fact that so many people continue to live and work near the depot and continue to move to the area indicates the public feels the same way.

"If they are critical about anything, they are critical about it taking this long to start the incineration," he said.

But Karyn Jones doesn't agree. Jones is a founding member of GASP, a local anti-incineration group, that wants to see more safety measures in place.

At the top of her list are recirculating air filters for everyone who could immediately be harmed by a depot accident. Currently, Irrigon residents have the filters.

"I have more faith in the system to deal with leakers than I do with incineration," she said.

Jones also worries about long-term effects of air emissions from incineration. She'd prefer the neutralization process being used at four of nine national depot sites.

"It makes me really angry that I should even have to consider moving because I wouldn't feel safe in my own community," said the Hermiston resident.

Janie Frutos of Irrigon, who works at Bake's Restaurant and Lounge in the small town on the edge of the depot, said she would leave if she could, but she instead will "hope for the best."

She isn't convinced things like shelter-in-place kits would block nerve gas. "Most places are drafty anyway. What is duct tape going to do?" she asked.

"It's a no-win situation. If they don't burn, what is going to happen? If they do burn, what is going to happen?" Frutos asked. "I wish they would just go and get it over with."

Sitting with Frutos was Lu Hulse, also of Irrigon, who said her brother works at the depot. She said the planning and safety precautions were a waste of money and time.

"How can you be really prepared for it?" she asked.

Although Morrow County Emergency Management has provided a special recirculating air filter that is designed to protect her home against a chemical release, Hulse said it doesn't make her feel any safer. "You think that machine is going to help? No."

At Nick's Italian Restaurant and Lounge in Umatilla, Mike Burk, who worked for a year at the depot where the chemical weapons are stored, also isn't sure about the safety precautions. He and his wife, Rosemary, operate an RV park on Paterson Ferry Road in Irrigon, where tone alert radios, shelter-in-place kits and recirculating air filters are facts of daily life.

The Burks do believe, however, that emergency agencies have done a good job of preparing hospitals and schools.

Rosemary Burk also said emergency information has been readily available to people through the TV, radio and handouts.

An example of that is at Huwe's Washboard Laundromat in Irrigon, where Liz Gibson hands out fliers on recirculating air filters and shelter-in-place kits.

Such widespread coverage is what groups like the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP) have been aiming for.

"It's really nice to see that the public is learning and generally knows what to do and surveys show that is the case," said Meg Capps, Umatilla County emergency manager.

The Umatilla and Morrow counties' CSEPP public information system has been acknowledged as one of the most effective in getting its message out, Capps said.

It wasn't always that way, she conceded. Ironically, a 1999 dust storm that caused a deadly traffic pileup on Interstate 84 helped.

During the dust storm, police and firefighters from Echo were on one side of the interstate and personnel from Pendleton were on the other side, Capps said. But the groups couldn't see each other or talk to each other.

From that disaster came a 450 mHz tactical radio system that allows multiple emergency agencies in the counties to communicate simultaneously. The counties were able to get the federal government to pay for the $9.4 million system.

Capps said such a system would have been invaluable on Sept. 11, 2001, when New York City firefighters and police officers couldn't talk to each other. "We have what New York didn't, that's how big it is," she said.

The CSEPP program has provided funding for a wide variety of programs that, like the radio system, can be used in any major disaster. "We've worked really hard to get a lot of really good things for first responders and the public," Capps said.

Across the river in Washington, Steve Sautter, spokesman for Benton County Emergency Services, said his area is ready as well.

Although the Tri-Cities 30 miles from the depot would not be in immediate danger from an accident at the depot, Sautter has responded to Tri-Citians' calls for information.

Benton County has benefited from all the emergency preparation, he said, pointing out nearly $18 million has been spent over the last 15 years on equipment and training for emergency crews.

"We have materials that most of the country is trying to get right now for response to some kind of chemical or biological weapons accident that could occur," Sautter said.

Umatilla County Sheriff John Trumbo recalls when his department's communication consisted of one radio with one channel that sat on a desk in the courthouse. "With the new radio system, I don't think anyone has found a dead spot," he said.

Trumbo said the area is ready for incineration. "We have made monumental strides in being prepared for any problem that might happen out there," he said.

There is also a new Umatilla County jail, which was partially funded with federal money, and a top-line records management system.

"There've been a lot of things offered to us, and we wouldn't have had that option had it not been for our relationship with the federal government," Trumbo said.

In addition to all of the new equipment, the emergency agencies have put hundreds of hours into training for the worst, including large-scale mock disasters based on a supposed chemical weapons accident.

Hermiston Fire Chief Jim Stearns said it's time to start incineration. The weapons stockpile "has been and will continue to be a hazard to the community," he said.

While it's impossible to be prepared for every situation, "at some point you have to say we're prepared enough to move forward," he said.