Emergency officials focus training on biological, chemical attacks

Thursday, Sept. 20, 2001 | 10:45 a.m.

As federal officials prepare to recommend Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste repository, and with domestic terrorist attacks fresh on their minds, local managers didn't wait to begin altering emergency response plans.

Local officials say they are focusing training in the next year on biological and chemical agents and radiation exposure in response to potential terrorist attacks.

"We hope we never respond to the kind of events that are on our minds now," Clark County Emergency Manager Bob Andrews said during a county advisory committee Wednesday.

Clark County and the city of Las Vegas are preparing exercises conducted in both the classroom and in the field. Officials also are equipping emergency crews with gear designed to protect them in the event of an attack involving biological or chemical weapons.

Las Vegas Emergency Manager Tim McAndrews said area officials were already strengthening emergency plans before last week's attack. The tragedies in New York and Washington, D.C., heightened awareness.

The Las Vegas City Council has requested $280,000 in the form of a a Department of Justice grant to purchase breathing equipment and protective clothing for emergency crews.

If Las Vegas receives the grant, Metro Police, firefighters, hospitals and the Health District will receive self-contained breathing masks, which are $4,455 each; air purifying respirators, $120 apiece; chemical resistant suits, $120; a $22,000 decontamination system to be placed in a local hospital, McAndrews said.

For the past nine years emergency departments at Clark County and the cities have rehearsed for such a disaster, Andrews said.

The exercises are designed to help emergency crews study worst-case scenarios and pinpoint weaknesses in response plans, Andrews said.

Terrorists using fully fueled jets as weapons have changed the way police, firefighters and medical teams are preparing for emergencies, said Irene Navis, director of the county Nuclear Waste Division.

"The terrorist acts are going to add another dimension to this program," Navis, an opponent of the proposed Yucca Mountain repository, said.

The county is sponsoring an annual hazardous materials training exercise in Las Vegas Dec. 2 through 6. FBI agents, police officers, highway patrol troopers, firefighters and emergency room crews can learn about handling accidents involving pesticides, radiation and explosives, Jim O'Brien, the county's officer for plans and operations, said.

Last year the classes and drills attracted 575 people from Western states, O'Brien said.