Purpose
- To alert all affected schools in sufficient time to safely implement protective actions.
- To protect students and staff in the event of off post release of chemical warfare agents stored at the Umatilla Chemical Depot.
Background
There are 22 public, two private K-12 education facilities and seven Head Start facilities in the Immediate Response and Protective Action zones. (See Attached Map, list of facilities, and designated protective action for each facility) The public educational facilities belong to the Hermiston, Umatilla, Stanfield, Echo and Morrow County School Districts. Head Start facilities are managed by the Umatilla-Morrow Head Start. Each district is responsible for the safety and well being of its students and staff. To assure that students and staff are protected in the event of a CSEPP emergency, school authorities have adopted a "balanced" protective action strategy of sheltering-in-place and evacuation, depending on each school's distance from the Umatilla Chemical Depot.
Those schools which evacuate have been provided with sufficient on hand buses to accomplish a single lift evacuation of all students and staff. To insure that there are enough trained and certified drivers available to drive the buses during an emergency, select teachers and staff have been trained to operate the buses. Each evacuated school has a designated host school where students and staff will be taken and housed until they can be reunited with their families.
Schools which employ shelter-in-place protective actions have been equipped with state of the art collective over-pressurization systems. The over-pressurization systems draw outside air through banks of activated charcoal filters and deliver the conditioned "clean" air to a sealed envelope area within the school. The air pressure within the safe area is higher than the ambient outside air pressure so if any leakage occurs, it will be clean air venting to the outside atmosphere insuring that students and staff are not exposed to chemical agent contamination.
Each over-pressurized school or Head Start building is designed to safely operate for up to 72 hours. This ability to safely keep students and staff within the safe area for prolonged periods assures protection during long duration events. Additionally, the long stay time allows emergency response officials the opportunity to conduct chemical agent monitoring to insure that occupants will not be exposed to any agent when they are removed from the facility. The stay time also enables emergency planners to marshal the resources necessary to remove the students and staff and safely reunite them him their families.
To insure that students and staff are safe and comfortable during the period that they are confined to a facility's safe area, the schools are furnished with food, water, sanitary supplies, sleeping mats and blankets. Audio visual units have been provided to entertain the students while they are within the safe envelope. As required, medicines are available within the safe areas for those students and staff who require prescription medications. To facilitate effective communications, the over-pressurized areas are equipped with radios and "off switch" non-commercial telephones. The performance of the over-pressurization mechanical systems is remotely monitored by the Bi-County Logistics Officer from a remote console located in the Umatilla County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in Pendleton, Oregon.
To assist the Incident Commander and staff with execution of the school protective actions, representatives of the Umatilla-Morrow Education Service District and the Mid Columbia Bus Company will report to the Umatilla and Morrow County Emergency Operation Centers. The personnel at the Umatilla County EOC will manage current operations in coordination with the Operations Section while those assigned to the Morrow County ECC will support planning functions for the Incident Commander.
Organization
Execution of the schools portion of the community protective action plan is a direct responsibility of the Incident Commander with specific operational supervision residing with the Operations Section. The Umatilla - Morrow Education Service District and Mid Columbia Bus representatives in the Umatilla County EOC will monitor execution of school protective actions and report school status and any problems requiring an emergency response to the Operations Section. The Bi-County Logistics Officer will assist in this process by remotely monitoring the status of mechanical support systems at all over-pressurized schools. Although there is not a Schools Division within the Operations Section, agencies with responsibilities to execute the protective actions in Annex J include:
- Umatilla - Morrow Education Service District
- Mid Columbia Bus Company
- Umatilla - Morrow Head Start
- Morrow County School District
- Wasco County School District
- Hermiston School District
- Umatilla School District
- Stanfield School District
- Echo School District
- Pilot Rock School District
Concept of Operations
To insure that the students and staff of IRZ/PAZ schools are protected, schools will be immediately notified of a Community Level Event at the Umatilla Chemical Depot. The initial alert will be provided as soon as the off post community is aware of an event. Notification to the IRZ/PAZ schools will be via pager, telephone call down and the Tone Alert Radio System.
