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| TOM BERRY/Ledger & Times
A hazardous materials team stands by as they await orders to investigate and disarm a mock chemical bomb inside a van at the William “Bill” Cherry Expo Center Saturday. The action was part of a Local Emergency Planning Committee drill to test the ability of several Murray-Calloway County emergency services to work together. |
Elaborate disaster scenario gets responders prepared for anything
By TOM BERRY
Staff Writer
A jilted college student venting his anger toward a former girlfriend by releasing hazardous chemicals at an agriculture facility where her current boyfriend attends class was the scenario for a mock-disaster drill Saturday by Murray, Calloway County and regional emergency services.
County Deputy Emergency Management Director Jeff Steen created and supervised the operation that took place at the Cherry Expo Center on College Farm Road.
The drill was designed to sharpen the skills of Murray Police, Murray State University Police, Murray Fire Department, Calloway County Sheriff's Department, Murray-Calloway County 911 emergency dispatch and other county emergency services personnel in the event of an actual natural or man-made emergency.
According to Steen, the fictional male student went to the unnamed college's agricultural facility where his romantic rival was taking classes and staged the timed release of explosive and corrosive chemicals - code-named “Hellfire” and “Armageddon” - in an act of revenge.
“So he's not lashing out at anybody in particular, he's lashing out at the institution,” Steen explained of the scenario. “He goes in and sets up an explosive chemical and a chemical corrosive that when mixed together, over time, will begin to heat up and eventually explode.”
Calloway County Emergency Management Director Bill Call said the drill was planned with unexpected twists and turns to keep responders guessing about whether their job was done or whether a more serious, but unknown threat was waiting for them.
To read the complete article, pick up a copy of Monday's Murray Ledger & Times.
Story created Aug 25, 2008 - 11:21:22 EDT.
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