Tanker spill drill trains officials for actual emergency

Tanker spill drill trains officials for actual emergency
A Roanoke police official said Tuesday's scenario was within the realm of possibility.
By Jeff Sturgeon
981-3251
Sept 24, 2008

JEANNA DUERSCHERL The Roanoke Times

Emergency crews respond to a mock disaster Tuesday in Roanoke. Overall, "it worked out well," said a Roanoke Fire-EMS official.
Disaster management leaders staged a fake chemical accident in Roanoke on Tuesday, giving emergency responders a chance to practice lifesaving skills.

The story line went like this: At ground zero, a rail crossing on Patterson Avenue Southwest, a tank car filled with water had sprung a leak.

With 1,500 gallons of anhydrous ammonia spewing forth from a derailed tanker, a plume of toxic gas was spreading over the Norwich area and part of Raleigh Court.

While a hazardous material crew of Roanoke Valley firefighters and railroad-contracted personnel contained the leak, rescuers tended to 36 simulated victims, half of whom were hospitalized. Police pretended to evacuate nearby neighborhoods where an estimated 500 people were home.

The all-clear on the two-hour simulation was given just before noon.

Leaders said the drill involving 125 people at the scene, city hall, a school, area hospitals and other locations was valuable.

But officials withheld details of what went wrong or what they learned -- other than to refer vaguely to communication and staffing issues.

"Couple people were caught a little off guard," Roanoke Fire-EMS Chief David Hoback said in an interview.

Overall, "it worked out well."

Shortly before 10 a.m., responders closed Patterson Avenue to establish on-site command, medical treatment and a decontamination bay adjacent to the troubled tanker. Red blinking lights and squawking radios added realism to the scene, which media members were allowed to watch from a nearby hilltop.

Fake patients were taken to hospitals. Evacuees went to Patrick Henry High School. Emergency team leaders asked Valley Metro to pretend to shift to consolidated emergency routes to free up buses for human transport.

The leaders obtained cooperation from schools to pretend to keep students rather than send them home amid the toxic cloud.

Even though Valley Metro did not shift schedules and schools did not hold children, officials confirmed the capacity of those organizations to do such things in the future if needed.

Roanoke police Lt. Sam Roman said the scenario staged is within the realm of possibility for the Star City.

"It could happen," he said.

The police department would evacuate a neighborhood if actually needed by sending 20 to 25 officers into an area to knock on doors, get people out and mark each vacated dwelling with a masking-tape X.

Police deployed fewer officers Tuesday but have the resources to muster the amount needed, he said.

Fire-EMS Deputy Chief Ralph Tartaglia said the railroad hauls "a lot" of anhydrous ammonia -- an ingredient in fertilizer -- through the valley.

Dave Schoendorfer, manager of hazardous materials for Norfolk Southern, countered at the same news conference that "the volume is very small."

Schoendorfer said that asphalt is the hazardous item passing through the valley in the largest quantity. Asked to name the most toxic material moved through the valley, he said one of the most toxic items is denatured alcohol, which he went on to say is the ethanol frequently added to automobile fuel these days.

The railroad moves such materials under a legal duty prescribed by the federal government, he said.

Behind the scenes, disaster management teams are constantly training and perfecting plans. Some 200 personnel received fresh training in hazardous materials management last week in Roanoke.

Tuesday's drill, which culminates many months of work, was seen as a critical test of plans, personnel, equipment and strategic infrastructure.