http://hotnews.oregonlive.com/cgi-free/getstory.cgi?o0434_AM_OR--ChemicalFalseAlar&OR&news&ornews

Finger-pointing starts over false warning of chemical weapons leak

The Associated Press 1/3/00 9:33 PM

HERMISTON, Ore. (AP) -- State and county officials are arguing over what triggered false warnings of a chemical weapons leak at the Umatilla Chemical Depot.

Sirens wailed near the depot and message boards along Interstate 84 warned motorists to exit the freeway because of an incident there.

But there had been no leak.

Oregon Emergency Management officials said Monday the alarm was triggered when a county employee tried to activate highway reader boards near Boardman to warn motorists of dense fog and ice.

"We have an electronic record of what happened," said agency spokesman Tom Worden. "We know where that button was activated."

But Casey Beard, director of the Morrow County Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program, said the dispatcher did not press the wrong button.

"It was not operator error," he said. "I have the utmost confidence in her."

During the scare, some speakers set up around the depot broadcast warnings in Spanish that there had been an accident. But the speakers also broadcast messages in English that it was just a test.

Sirens also blared out a sustained wail.

Depot officials quickly found that no chemical accident had occurred.

But at a community meeting in Hermiston, many residents said it took much too long to get the message out.

It took up to 30 minutes for announcements to be made over local radio stations that the alarm was a malfunction.

Beard said he used a direct phone line to alert radio stations, police departments and other emergency officials that the sirens were a false alarm.

The confused messages coming over the speakers were due to the fact that new voice chips are still being added to the warning system, officials said.

"When some of the sirens went off, the verbal announcements were mixed up because all the new voice chips haven't been installed yet," said Larry Ross, a technician with Oregon Emergency Management.

The agency is in the midst of installing new computer chips with the voice alarm recordings.

"I didn't' get the chips out and we got caught with our pants down," he said.

The state emergency agency will finish installing the computer chips with new voice recordings by the end of the month, Worden said.

Morrow County officials said they are working on a new communication system that will bring 18,000 radios to all houses and businesses near the chemical depot. About half of the radios could be in place by this summer, Beard said.

On Saturday, a trace amount of the nerve gas Sarin was detected leaking from a chemical weapon stored at the Umatilla Chemical Depot, but officials said there was no danger to the public.

About 650 of the 1,100 construction workers at the facility's incinerator project walked off the job Monday, concerned about how details of Saturday's leak were handled. All workers were expected to be back on the job Tuesday.

Thousands of tons of nerve agents and other chemical weapons are stored at the depot near Hermiston. They are to be destroyed as soon as construction is completed on an incinerator.

-- Edith (still in the) Bunker (edith@nospam.com), January 04, 2000

Answers

Yoowwwwwwwwwwwwch!

-- poison (take@seriously.danger), January 04, 2000.

I heard about the false-alarm incident too. "Officals" said that the thing that worried them most was that most people just ignored the warnings and went about biz as usual. Spanish speaking people (which there are a lot of in that area) were extremely confused by the mixed messages. The message in English said it was only a test, while the one in Spanish said evacuate!! Doesn't sound too good if the warnings were saying totally opposite things - in 2 different languages! Sheesh. Wonder what the reason was for the NERVE GAS LEAK ON JANUARY 1!!!!!!!

-- Jenna (pdxgirl@domtemailme.com), January 04, 2000.

I didn't hear any follow up about this on the Portland news. All they seemed to focus on was how people were returning items and which stores would take them back.....and what foodbanks to donate to. Oh, and a story about somebody that drive a mini-van into a swimming pool. WHAT HAPPENED TO CUT THROAT JOURNALISM???????

WHERE THE HELL ARE ALL THE INVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS?????!!!!!!

-- Lesa (126194e36928@aol.com), January 04, 2000.

"About 650 of the 1,100 construction workers at the facility's incinerator project walked off the job Monday, concerned about how details of Saturday's leak were handled." Interesting.

-- Whyatt (Why@Erp.com), January 04, 2000.

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/00/01/st010407.html

Umatilla chemical crew walks out

About 650 workers leave the depot amid worries about a sarin leak and a warning system that sounded a false alarm

Tuesday, January 4, 2000

By Richard Cockle, Correspondent, The Oregonian

HERMISTON -- About 650 workers at the Umatilla Chemical Depot in Eastern Oregon walked off the job Monday, apparently worried about the effectiveness of warning systems, adding to community anger over a series of communication breakdowns and last week's false alarm.

On Saturday, a trace amount of the nerve gas sarin was detected leaking from a chemical weapon stored at the depot, but officials said there was no danger to the public.

Mary Binder, spokeswoman for the depot, said it was not unusual for the depot's sophisticated monitoring equipment to find a weapon that emits an extremely small amount of nerve agent vapor. The vapor was detected in an area that is accessible only to workers wearing protective suits.

However, news of the leak, following last week's false alarm, triggered the walkout. Workers are expected to return today. Binder said about 450 construction workers, supervisors, engineers and other office staff remained on the job.

In the meantime, Morrow County and state emergency officials continue to debate the cause of Thursday's false alarm, which triggered warnings on freeway reader boards and set off sirens and loudspeakers.

County officials say the false alarm was caused by a faulty computer program. State officials, however, say it was a human mistake -- by a county employee.

Morrow County officials insist the computerized warning system owned by Oregon Emergency Management is flawed.

"We are saying this system is vulnerable. This system is not working like it

------------------------ I hope the formatting is okay on this. At the website (url listed above) the story just leaves off at "this system is not working like it". At least a the time I visited the site.

-- winter wondering (winterwondring@yahoo.com), January 04, 2000.

Winter, problems at this plant have been going on since at least September. I checked this current story yesterday and the site was still displaying previous headlines.

Oct. 06, 1999: Workers' Illness Not Caused By Nerve Gas

Sept. 29, 1999: Teams Inspect Umatilla Warning Systems

Sept. 27, 1999: Crews Inspect Weapons Depot After Gas Leak

Sept. 23, 1999: Umatilla Emergency Alerts Sabotaged

Sept. 15, 1999: Hundreds Flee Weapons Depot Fumes

Whether it was Sarin that escaped or not, local citizens have good reasons to be nervous about that plant. BTW, these headlines did not appear on the site Tuesday, only Monday.

-- Margaret J (janssm@aol.com), January 04, 2000.