UMATILLA – Students in the town most likely to be hit by a plume of chemical agent if a disaster struck the Umatilla Chemical Depot were the least safe during a three-county drill this week. But measures are being taken to rectify that, officials stressed.

The unlucky events in Umatilla juxtapose what officials called a great success for most area schools. During Wednesday’s annual community drill, more than half-a-dozen monitored schools either sheltered in place or evacuated within 17 minutes of a mock accident at the depot.

One unnamed school sheltered its entire student body in 98 seconds.

Umatilla schools

During the drill to prepare for an unlikely leak at the depot, students at Umatilla High School and neighboring Clara Brownell Middle School were left without overpressurization in their schools.

Overpressurization units seal a buildings and keep outside air – which could contain nerve gas during an accident – from entering a structure. Most area schools are equipped with the devices.

The 290 students at the high school sheltered in their gym, but because the unit isn’t ready, it wasn’t activated. Bill Howard, with Umatilla and Morrow counties Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program, said the unit’s filters will be tested on Wednesday. If the test is successful, district staff must then be trained on how to use it, he added.

Howard wasn’t sure why the contractor has taken so long to complete the unit, but he said students could have evacuated to the middle school gym in an actual event. Such was the plan before the new high school was completed last fall.

Such a contingency wouldn’t have worked well on Wednesday: The diesel generator for Brownell’s overpressurization unit failed during the drill. Howard said contractors were repairing the device on Friday. Unlike most schools, Brownell’s unit can’t use city power as a backup because the wiring in the old building is incompatible.

Howard said that sheltering in the gym, even without the overpressurization unit, was “as good or better than” sheltering in a normal building because the access points to the gym were sealed up.

Don Miller, principal at Umatilla High, expressed frustration at predictions that the unit won’t be ready until after the school year ends.

“If there were an accident, we would be completely unprotected, as would the middle school,” he said Friday. Miller added that he’ll be satisfied once the unit is finished.

“We feel comfortable as long we are able to push that button” to start overpressurization, he said.

Shelly Ehrmantraut, whose son is one of 230 students at Brownell, was angered during Thursday’s Umatilla School Board meeting when she heard the school’s pressurization unit failed.

“I’m just upset that he’s not protected,” she said.

CSEPP pleased

Cheryl Humphrey, the public information officer for Umatilla County Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program, said the schools were the shining aspect of the drill.

Emergency officials gathered Friday to review Wednesday’s drill. They looked specifically at how well the public and schools were notified and prepared for a chemical accident.

The time required for preparations was slim, she said. Eight area schools were monitored, and the students were sheltered or evacuated between 12 to 17 minutes of the discovery of the accident.

“The bottom line is that this exercise went very well,” she said. “Every indication is that we met (our) goals but that does not mean that the job is done.”

Officials added new procedures to the drill. Emergency officials were able to communicate quickly with local radio stations and mobile air monitors from the depot were used to inspect the area supposedly hit by chemical agent.

Humphrey said some areas need work. While many people know that they should shelter in place, a process for letting the public know when the coast is clear hasn’t been well devised.

Humphrey said further public education will help. Public interest in preparing for a leak has increased exponentially in the last several months, a sign she sees as positive.

And while preparations can always be streamlined, she said an independent evaluator cautioned emergency officials from being discouraged.

“The standards that we have set up here for our citizens … are some of the most stringent standards in the nation,” she said.