Calhoun County has 25 buildings for collective protection. They are mostly schools and retirement homes, but in the event of an accident at the Anniston Army Depot's stockpile of chemical weapons, the shelters will protect their inhabitants.
The shelters constitute one component of the area's protection plan.
Schools constitute the majority of collective protection shelters, said Dan Civis, director of the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program for FEMA.
Emergency planning officials culled the 25 shelters from a list of 133 possible sites, winnowing out others based on location, feasibility and the number of people
The county selected the eight original facilities as originally the Calhoun County EMA had responsibility for the program. It handed the collective protection shelters off to the state in 2000, citing a lack in expertise.
The Alabama EMA has given the contract for the program to the Army Corps of Engineers.
In the coming weeks, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers will examine eight more buildings for their suitability as collective protection shelters. They will look at a building's air exchange rates, the type of protective measures needed.
Testing was scheduled for last week, but was cancelled due to the terrorist attacks in New York City and at the Pentagon. The Army Corps of Engineers will seal off rooms in a building and then pump air into it to see how well it holds the pressure.
The shelters must meet what officials call the "personal protection criteria" that is a standard of four deaths per 2.5 million years.
In some cases, a building can meet that standard if they are essentially winterized and made more airtight. Some may require air filters that recirculate the air within a building and others may need overpressurization.
Over-pressurization entails installing a system, much like air-conditioning, to pump a building full of air to ensure that no outside air can enter. It's an expensive step, costing $7.5 million to install at Bynum Elementary School, Coldwater Elementary School, Wellborn Elementary School, Wellborn High School and Foursquare Christian Academy.
Three other schools have over-pressurization systems under construction.
The selection process is based on a methodology created in 1996, said Bob Thornton of Innovative Emergency Management. That is based on a building's proximity to the chemical weapons stockpile and factors such as the prevailing wind and obstacles that may hold back a toxic plume of nerve agent.
Officials also question building owners about the number and type of occupants and their requirements. Emergency officials then go over the building, looking at its structural integrity as well as the required protective measures.
After running the buildings through that methodology, Thornton said, they have to prioritize which sites will receive protective measures first. Due to funding, not all of the collective protection shelters can be addressed at once, Civis said.
Randy Hecht, FEMA's planner for collective protection shelters, said the state and county are asked to prioritize the buildings as well. Usually, highest priority is placed on the buildings closest to the depot and priority diminishes with distance.
The projects are phased in as funds become available. Construction at Alexandria Elementary School, Alexandria High School, Heritage Christian Academy, Ohatchee High School, the Cerebral Palsy Center of East Alabama and Calhoun County 911 are now under way.
Currently in the design phase are the Beckwood Retirement Home, the Colonial Pines Retirement Home, Regional Medical Center, Stringfellow Hospital, Jacksonville Hospital and the Jacksonville State Trooper Post.
