This is confusing. Calhoun County is not prepared for a chemical weapons accident at the depot. OK, that much we all understand.So now here’s the startling decision that defies logic: Because the community isn’t prepared the county and state are not going to participate in a drill to make us more prepared.
Huh?
That comes straight from the mouths of the Calhoun County and Alabama Emergency Management Agencies.
“We’re not going to participate in a façade that allows this community to believe they’re prepared when they’re not,” said Mike Burney, director of the Calhoun County EMA.
We thought practicing for an emergency was more than a public relations drill to soothe the community. Everyone knows we need more protective measures.
But we thought first responders held drills so they could practice the current plan, double-check their equipment and identify the rough spots so that in a real accident they would lessen the chances of complete discombobulation.
Guess not.
Go figure.
So if we have an accident at the depot this afternoon, what we do? Would we decide not to sound the alarms because, well, you know, we’re not completely ready for it?
Now, we understand the county is angry and rightfully so. The Federal Emergency Management Agency denied us the protective hoods that Undersecretary of Defense Edward “Pete” Aldridge had promised.
That’s a wrong that needs redressing, but is sitting on your hands during a practice drill the way to do it? Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.
In the words of FEMA spokesman John Czwartacki: “Certainly this action does nothing to enhance the safety of the citizens.”
Then what is the primary goal of the Calhoun County EMA?
Is it to ensure the well-being of the county’s residents or wrangle gas masks out of the federal government?
Now the good people at the county EMA might argue you can’t do one without the other. Yes, without gas masks, protecting the residents becomes more difficult. No doubt about it.
But should we then abandon the few things we do have because we don’t have everything?
Remember, we’re not talking about training for some hypothetical accident happening sometime in the distant future.
The threat is now. A lightning bolt or a 747 could do the trick. After Sept. 11, neither seems quite as fantastical anymore. Even opponents of incineration have come to accept the current risks sitting six miles from downtown.
So where is the logic in not drilling your first responders?
Of course, in addition to evacuation we can and should implement shelter-in-place, as it would give us another protective measure, but the county is unwilling to accept that until it receives the gas masks.
That’s just another example of its “whole loaf or no loaf” philosophy.
Let’s not forget that this current mess could potentially stall the start up of the incinerator — the ultimate solution to our chemical weapons problem.
Once it’s gone, it’s gone. We no longer have to devote our valuable time and resources to hand-wringing over our emergency preparedness.
The stockpile’s presence has already hindered economic development in Calhoun County, said Dr. David Bronner, CEO of Retirement Systems of Alabama. Because of the risk from the stockpile, Bronner said a technology company with 200 well-paying jobs decided not to locate here.
The county has to come to terms with this reality. The longer they threaten to stall this process by refusing to participate in emergency exercises, the greater the chances that we all have to live longer with these weapons of mass destruction in our backyard. The longer the weapons sit here, the less likely we are to attract economic development and good jobs.
We can’t afford not to train for an emergency. We need to make do with our current resources until the federal government wakes up and realizes that we need more. When it comes to emergency planning, we’ll take half a loaf over no loaf at all.
