Getting ready for the worst

Hancock County holds mock disaster drill

By EMILY SCOTT, For The Weirton Daily Times
NEW MANCHESTER — Several different agencies in Hancock County participated in a mock disaster at Tomlinson Run State Park that combined multiple emergency situations into one scenario.

John Paul Jones, director of the Hancock County Office of Emergency Management, said this is the first time the county has had this many agencies participate in the same drill. He said the idea to do more than one type of drill at the same time came about when the Local Emergency Planning Committee, the Hancock County Health Department, and the state all decided to have drills at the same time. The Hancock County Sheriff’s Office, the health department, the LEPC, the Hancock County Commission, Weirton Medical Center, New Cumberland Ambulance, Tomlinson Run State Park, and the New Manchester, New Cumberland, and Newell volunteer fire departments all participated in the drill Tuesday.

“We got good cooperation from all the agencies,” said Jones.

The emergency scenario at the park involved two terrorists who take over a chlorine truck delivery to the park’s pool, then shoot two people and take a third person hostage. The terrorists, played by Marcus Murray and Zach Montero, then strapped bombs to the chest of the hostage, played by Lucas Owings, and set off bombs on the chlorine truck.

Jones, in the place of a park employee, contacted Hancock County emergency dispatch, who sent in the sheriff’s office Special Response Team.

The SRT then chased the mock terrorists, all armed with paint ball guns, into the woods, capturing them and freeing the hostage.

In the meantime, firefighters from New Manchester, New Cumberland, and Newell arrived on the scene to deal with the chlorine leak. A simulated decontamination zone was set up, as anyone in a real emergency of the sort would need to be decontaminated before being sent to the hospital.

Jones said he was happy with how the drill went, and one of the only issues was a problem with radio communication, as the various agencies are only able to communicate with each other through emergency dispatch.

That problem should soon be alleviated, since the sheriff’s office will be getting a command vehicle equipped with an interoperability device that will allow the agencies to communicate with each other directly by radio. Hancock County Chief Deputy Todd Murray said the vehicle is currently being outfitted with cameras and other equipment and should arrive by mid-July. Murray said the vehicle would be available to emergency agencies in the county even if law enforcement was not directly involved.

“There were lessons learned,” said Jones of the drill, adding the county’s agencies have good equipment and well-trained people who know what to do in a real emergency.

“We learned a lot of things as planners to do the drills situated better ... We would like to build on this first one to get to the one in October,” he said, referring to an all day drill that has been scheduled for Oct. 11.

Jones said the emphasis of the drills is to make sure that in a real emergency no lives are lost.

“That’s the important thing,” Jones said. “Everybody has to go home.”

“I think it was a good opportunity for the agencies to see how each other works,” said Murray. “There are some bugs in the system, but that’s why you have drills ... Generally, everyone in the county works well in an emergency, but there’s no harm in practicing.”

Murray added the drills are also good for the sheriff’s deputies because they train all the time but do not often get a chance to do so with other agencies.

The Hancock County Health Department also was on hand at the park to distribute potassium iodide pills at a drive-through clinic. About 300 adult doses and about 100 child doses were handed out.

Jolene Zuros, an environmental health official with the health department, said anyone who lives, works, or goes to school within a 10-mile radius of the Beaver Valley Power Station in Shippingport, Pa. should have the pills, which saturate the thyroid with potassium to prevent thyroid cancer in the event of an emergency at the plant. That zone contains all of Hancock County north of New Manchester.

Zuros said they wanted to try the drive-through clinic as an experiment of a method for dispensing any kind of medication during an emergency.

“We do feel that it was an effective way in case of an emergency,” Zuros said.

Zuros said the health department last distributed pills in August 2006 and those pills have expired by now. Anyone who does not have the pills can pick them up from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday at the health department in New Cumberland.

Zuros added the pills, which should be stored in a cool, dry, accessible place, should not be taken until the health department or the emergency management office has said so.

“The best method of protecting yourself is to evacuate,” Zuros said.

Nurses and staff from the Brooke, Marshall, and Tyler/Wetzel health departments, as well as other volunteers, were on hand to assist with the clinic.



(Scott can be contacted at escott@reviewonline.com)