Published: August 20, 2008 12:07 am         

Biohazard drill ran at post office

At 2 p.m., a voice came over the load speaker at the Kokomo Post Office on Webster Street alerting employees to a possible emergency.

“Attention, employees. Turn off all machines and go to your assigned area in an orderly fashion,” the voice said.

Seconds later, employees began shuffling through the post office to their designated areas.

Officials sounded the alarm because the Biohazard Detection System found what might be anthrax.

Emergency personnel were called and began staging outside the building.

Fortunately, this was just a drill and not an actual emergency.

The drill is engineered to give several Howard County emergency agencies a chance to rehearse plans in the event such an emergency were to occur.

“It’s a good learning opportunity, especially for employees,” Kim Yates of the Post Service said during the Tuesday afternoon drill.

The U.S. Postal Service is conducting the drills to ensure preparedness in case of real emergency. This is the first drill for Kokomo as the procedures are being tested across the state and nationwide, according to Yates.

The BDS was put in place shortly after anthrax had made its way into the mail system in 2001, Yates said.

“That was very scary,” Yates said. “It affected employees here. They felt if it happened there, it could happen here, too.”

The detection system uses DNA matching to detect the presence of anthrax. Resembling a large sorting machine, it continuously collects air samples from the mail as it goes through a canceling machine. Airborne particles go into a sterile water base, creating a liquid that can be tested, she explained.

When the machine detects a biohazard, red lights flash, horns blare and the detective machine automatically shuts off, stopping the flow of mail through the post office.

That’s when postal workers set into action a chain of emergency procedures.

“If that happened, it would be a huge event,” Yates said of the alarm.

After gathering in designated areas, two volunteer “victims” — a man suffering from a heart attack and a pregnant woman going into labor — were taken out of the building and led to the decontamination tent and then transported to the hospital for treatment.

The employees volunteered to be victims in Tuesday’s scenario.

Emergency workers outfitted with hazardous materials uniforms led the remaining employees out of the building and into a makeshift decontamination tent set up by the Kokomo Fire Department’s HazMat Team.

“This allows us to work with other agencies,” KFD Assistant Chief Brad Myers said of the drill. “We don’t always get to do a drill at the federal level like this.”

Employees are then sprayed with water and washed with brushes before being released to medical personnel for evaluation.

“In the event someone contracted anthrax, they would have to undergo antibiotics for five days,” Yates said.

While emergency workers cared for the victims, the biohazard discovered by the machine was sent to an Indianapolis lab for an evaluation of its contents.

About 22 firefighters, nearly 20 postal inspectors and several police officers participated in the drill. Officers of the Kokomo Police Department, Howard County Emergency Management and members of the Howard County Health Department also participated.

Customers went about their mailing business Tuesday unaware of the drill being conducted in an area not visible from the entrance.

In the case of a true emergency, all customers would have been evacuated and decontaminated, and Webster Street would have been shut down.

“Agencies participating together before an actual emergency occurs is key to preparedness,” said Yates. “It allows real-time information to be secured, and allows participating agencies to recognize their strengths and identify and correct inadequate responses.

“I hope we never see it here,” Yates said with a sigh.

Mike Fletcher may be reached at (765) 454-8565 or via e-mail at mike.fletcher@kokomotribune.com

     

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