Chemical spill drill tests local emergency workers
By Jake Barg
Otagon OtWv f mxaki
It could have ixien worse.
Besides the two Firefighters who ran out of oxygen while
in Klamath Hall res* uing victims, there were no imme
diate ( asualties as the result ol a chemical spill outside
of Onyx Bridge Sept *).
After all, the chlorine that leaked into the wind or liq
uid waste that s»<ep«*d into the Eugene Millrnce could have
brought us many as 10 to 1 r» (.asualties. said Chin k Crimp
hell, a Eugene deputy fire marshal
It could have I won real. hut. as the police radio kept
i.rac kling all morning. "This is a drill This is a drill."
VVliat the Eugene fire department — along with many
other puhlir agencies participating in a drill condor ted
by the Associated lane Emergency Response Team — w as
doing was testing itself on how prepared it was for such
.in emergency All agencies involved treated the s< enu as
if it were a real situation.
“This could happen any time." Camplioll said
After a forklift operator dropped barrels of a flamma
ble liquid outside of Onyx Bridge, leakage began. When
the forklift driver started his engine, a spark ignited the
material, causing an explosion
The explosion knocked over a tank of chlorine gas that
sat on the Onyx loading d<x.k The tank began to leak gas
into the air, creating a large hazard to the area, particu
larly Klamath Hall, which had the gas creep into the build
ing's air intake s\ stem
Iniured in the im ident were the forklift operator, anoth
er University worker, and two University Office of Pub
Ik Safety offn ers who were kntx ked down after running
into the chlorine gas
OPS Asstx iote Dinx tor Tom Hit ks. who helped orga
nize the drill, ployed the role well
"We had a < onple of unantii ipated i asualties." Hit ks
said.
Campbell was a bit more serious
"These two people came in. and they made the wrong
decision." Campbell said of the OPS officers "Bingo
down for the count."
But that is w hat the drill was all about — to learn what
needed to he done (and what needed to Ixi done Ix-tter)
in a situation like this Campbell said that overall, the
THOMAS BtROSTROMTcw TNi f
A rescue worker tends to the Injured forklift driver who dumped flammable liquid during a drill at Onyx Bridge.
agencies performed the drill well
"This isn't n hunch of kids playing with their big red
toys." he said. "They were very methodical. They weren't
racing around."
Kmergoncy workers took the victims of the explosion
and the leakage through a decontamination process, and
even showered themselves to avoid the spread of any
thing.
Campbell said the drill takes place annually, and that
the University volunteered to offer Onyx Bridge as the
drill site He said letting the agencies test a site, as the
University did. is taking a risk.
"I'm impressed," Campbell said, “because you’re kind
of opening up your guts.”
Traffic on Franklin Boulevard was narrowed to two
lanes during the drill, and drivers passing by looked on
in wonder at the drill. So did pedestrians and bike rid
ers. who often blindly went through the drill site with
out much regard to the situation.
"We had a few stragglers come through,” he said.
"We discussed it — we weren't going to take them
down for a drill.”
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