HERMISTON – The tone alert radios have passed a second round of testing and will soon be ready for distribution, officials said Thursday night at the monthly meeting of the Oregon Chemical Demilitarization Citizens Advisory Commission.

“It’s a pleasure to be before the commission with good news,” said Casey Beard, the Morrow County Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program director.

The 90 radios used for testing in Umatilla and Morrow counties passed a recent barrage of tests with flying colors, he said.

“We are satisfied now that we have a system that is going to perform as ordered,” Beard said.

The radios, which will emit loud tones and warning instructions in the event of an emergency at the Umatilla Chemical Depot, are the main link between emergency officials and the public.

About 17,000 will be given to businesses and residents near the depot.

The radios have been delayed while agencies argued over who would pay for them, and because of a lawsuit from an unsuccessful bidder. A test last year raised new questions, as did another earlier this year. But CSEPP is satisfied the tests are complete.

The next trick is distributing the radios. Eric Richardson, the CSEPP director for the regional Federal Emergency Management Agency office, said distribution should begin by mid-March and likely last about six months, provided there are no snags.

“We can see the light at the end of the tunnel now,” he said. “It’s looking pretty good.”

In Washington, Benton County Emergency Management is recovering many of the 250 radios it distributed because they can’t receive the signals. A similar problem on a much larger scale happened in Indiana, Richardson added.

“We can’t afford to distribute a radio that had failed, that would destroy the whole program,” Richardson said.

Emergency agencies are printing revised instructions for the radios. A contractor also will soon begin hiring and training staff to distribute the radios.

Distribution will first occur to homes in sector A, which extends northeast of the depot toward Powerline Road. Next will be sector B in Umatilla. Public meetings will precede distribution and a distribution schedule will be printed in newspapers, Richardson said.

A map of the sectors can be found in the calendars provided to locals by their county CSEPPs.

He said FEMA is still seeking a federal employee to oversee the distribution. If none is found, he and an assistant may do the job, he said.

“We’re committed to do what it takes to do it right, that’s the bottom line,” he said.

Also at Thursday’s meeting, Stephanie Hallock told the commission that an independent evaluation of the alert and notification system is set to begin at the end of the month. Hallock, a special aide to Gov. John Kitzhaber, said the evaluation of the sirens and reader boards likely will be followed in early March by the governor’s first visit to the depot. The evaluation should be completed by the end of April.