Give em all a Gas mask

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03/26/2003

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Springs city employees issued gas
masks

03/23/03

By BONNIE FORTIER

OCEAN SPRINGS -- This week, law enforcement
officers, firefighters and other city employees received
the first piece to their personnel protective equipment. A
gas mask.

Officials in Ocean Springs and the Regional Response
Team for the Southern District of Mississippi say such
equipment will help them to better prepare for many
types of emergencies.

Ocean Springs Police Chief Kerry Belk said the masks
were ordered for each of the city's officers as part of
Homeland Security readiness. But he said the masks and
the disposable dry chemical suits have been needed
since long before the threat of terrorism.

Coast cities such as Ocean Springs that have miles of
railroad tracks that are at risk of chemical spills. Several
years ago, a train was stopped in the area of Lovers
Lane and Cherokee Glenn as a tanker it was transporting
was leaking. Hundreds of residents in the immediate
area were evacuated.

Because public safety employees did not have the
appropriate protective equipment, the city had to wait
until a team of hazardous materials specialist arrived
before it could investigate the train more closely. With the
protective equipment, the identification of whether the
leaking chemical was dangerous could have been made
sooner.

"This is not just about the threat of terrorism," Belk said.
"This is something we've needed for a long time."

Police have received a total of 35 gas masks, one for
each police officer. The Ocean Springs Fire Department
has received 20 masks while the public works
department has received seven. One has also be issued
to the human resources risk manager. The $9,374.40 the
city has spent on the equipment includes a Nuclear
Biological Filter.

Another example Belk used to describe the need is the
recent attempted theft of Anhydrous Ammonia in
Gulfport. An officer without the proper equipment
responding to the incident received minor injuries from
inhaling the gas from a leak caused in the attempted
theft.

Ocean Springs Fire Chief Mark Hare said there are
several Ocean Springs firefighters who are certified as
hazardous material technicians. Recently, they met at the
Pascagoula Fire Department to coordinate how to work
together to manage a hazardous material or chemical
emergency. Hare is also the city's Civil Defense Director.

Communication with representatives of the Ocean
Springs School District has also been addressed
because the schools are often used as shelters.

"Hopefully we'll never have to use any of this," Hare said.

In addition to using the equipment for local emergencies,
Ocean Springs as well as all Jackson County
municipalities and the Jackson County Sheriff's
Department are members of a statewide emergency
response team.

Linda Rouse, Harrison County Civil Defense said
Harrison County was chosen by the state to coordinate
the southern district Regional Response Team. The
district includes, Harrison, Hancock, Jackson, Stone,
Pearl River and George County.

The southern district, she said, is one of five established
in the state. Teams are under the guidance of the
Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, which is
directed by the Homeland Security Administration.

Each law enforcement agency, fire department and
ambulance service has designated specific
representatives to directly participate in the team. The
team is also supported by public works employees from
each area.

A $100,000 Homeland Security grant will finance some
equipment and training for the team, Rouse said. One of
the benefits, she said, will be cross-training, such as
police and firefighters learning more about what each
others' tasks are.

"This is will a supplement to what a lot of them already
know," she said. "It will apply to any kind of emergency