Sanford lab hosts disaster relief training

By Wendy Pitlick, Black Hills Pioneer
Article Source

LEAD Emergency response personnel from all over the Northern Hills, along with the S.D. National Guard 82nd Civil Support Team (Weapons of Mass Destruction) gathered at the Sanford Lab at Homestake for disaster relief training Thursday.

The training involved the simulated release of nicotine as a chemical agent in one of the Sanford Lab buildings. The exercise included seven Fire Science Program students from Western Dakota Technical Institute, who posed as victims who had been exposed to the chemical agent. Each victim carried a printed sheet which listed their simulated symptoms, so emergency response personnel could practice how to decontaminate and treat them, and how to use those symptoms as well as samples to determine the toxins that caused their sicknesses.

Members of the Lead and Deadwood Volunteer Fire Departments, the Deadwood EMS team, the Center for National Response based in West Virginia, the Lawrence County Office of Emergency Management, Lead-Deadwood Regional Hospital, and the S.D. National Guard's 82nd Civil Support Team (Weapons of Mass Destruction) all participated in the exercise. Additionally, Kris Ruedebusch, representing Kimberly-Clark International " the company which manufactures Huggies, Kleenex and some of the disaster safety products used during the exercise " was on-hand to observe the use of the company's products.

The training was set up to simulate exactly what the scene would look like in the event of a chemical disaster situation at any location. It included setting protocol for chains of command, as well as testing decontamination equipment and processes for effectiveness. Members of the S.D. Science and Technology Authority, the managing agency for the Sanford Lab, offered their surface facilities for use " but the training was not site-specific to the lab itself. No activities were conducted underground.

The exercise was set up by the 82nd Civil Support Team, and the actual scenario was designed by the Center of National Response. Major John Emick, Commander of the 82nd Civil Support Team said his crew tries to hold 12 of these trainings a year at various locations throughout the Hills. Last year a similar training exercise was held at Black Hills State University.

"It's better to put this training together now than to have (something) happen in the real world and it's the first time we all see each other," Emick said of the importance of emergency teams building relationships with each other before a disaster strikes. "(The Center of National Response) actually builds the scenario. We don't have any knowledge of it and then we come in and try to figure it out."

Though it was revealed to the press that the contaminant was nicotine, the entire exercise involved figuring out the chemical problem. Participating agencies had to use the victims' symptoms, as well as meticulously obtained samples and tests, to determine the cause. As a result, the exercise was scheduled to last for approximately 13 hours.

Under this particular scenario, Lead volunteer firefighters Mike Stahl and Dennis Schumacher were the first to arrive on the scene. As they burst through the doors to assess the situation, they encountered seven volunteers who were acting sick and lying on the ground. As soon as it became apparent that the scene may be contaminated with an unknown substance, Schumacher and Stahl secured the site "not allowing anyone else to come in " and began getting the patients ready for decontamination and transport to Lead-Deadwood Regional Hospital. Lead Fire Chief Tim Eggers served as the incident commander, ordering and orchestrating the resources necessary to assess and deal with the situation. Eggers, along with Emick and other emergency response leaders, were stationed at an Incident Command Post located at the Office of Emergency Management in Deadwood, while soldiers from the National Guard and other emergency agencies set up the base of operations for all testing and sampling to be done on the scene.

S.D. Science and Technology Authority Executive Director Dave Snyder said since safety is the chief concern at the lab, the exercise fit right in with the agency's philosophy.

"All the entities that are here today participating in this program are integral to our program of safety ultimately," he said. "Safety is the most important thing for us in entering the mine and doing experiments underground. So having relationships with the people who will be here is very important and we're very supportive."

The Sanford Laboratory at Homestake is equipped with a mine rescue team that is composed of mine re-entry employees as well as local emergency response volunteers, some of whom were involved in Thursday's exercise, Snyder continued. While the exercise had nothing to do with mine rescue, many of the people involved with safety at the lab could also help in the event of other disasters, such as the one simulated Thursday.

Dr. Jose Alonso, director of the Sanford Laboratory at Homestake said he was delighted to be able to host the many different agencies on such an important mission. "It's a community outreach effort that we're very pleased to be involved with," he said.

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