This story was published Thu, Oct. 30, 2003
PORTLAND -- The ventilation system at a Umatilla Chemical Depot building was not shut off for 45 minutes after an incident that sickened 34 construction workers four years ago.
David Trott, Raytheon's emergency preparedness manager at the site, testified in federal court Wednesday that the building was open at the time and had lots of natural ventilation before he ordered the ventilation system closed.
And he admitted that while they tested the building several hours later for traces of sarin, VX and mustard agent, the equipment couldn't reach into the deepest parts of the building, where most of the employees were working.
Still he said there never was any indication the workers were sickened by a chemical agent release, and that he treated the incident as an industrial accident.
Trott testified that although he had no idea what could have caused the incident, he had the building checked as a precaution.
"We couldn't leave any stone unturned, so we had to investigate all possibilities," he said Wednesday, the eighth day of the nonjury trial in U.S. District Court.
"We looked for anything unusual, and we didn't find anything," he said. "There were no traces of vomit near the building or infirmary."
The incident occurred on Sept. 15, 1999, during construction of the incinerator plant near Umatilla that will be used to destroy 7.4 million pounds of deadly nerve and mustard agents stored at the depot, 35 miles south of the Tri-Cities.
Trott was in a construction trailer about 250 feet from the accident site when he heard workers were evacuating a nearby building.
He looked outside, saw people coming out, then went to his office to get his safety equipment. That's when he saw two dozen workers milling about a nearby medical trailer, he said.
None appeared to be in distress, he said, but they were "milling around and smoking cigarettes."
But Portland Attorney James McCandlish, who is representing nearly two dozen of the injured workers who say the Army was negligent for not responding fast enough to the possible chemical agent release, questioned what Trott saw.
"There's nothing in your deposition that says anything about seeing anyone," McCandlish told Trott. "You said you were told about the people there."
"I could be incorrect about the smoking," Trott admitted, "but I did see people."
Trott was made the incident commander at the scene and spent much of his time at the command post talking with other officials and coordinating the collection of information.
Two witnesses are expected to testify today, and lawyers hope to begin closing arguments by 2 p.m.