R E D C R O S S
" B E R E A D Y " V I D E O H
E R E
Blowing east from California or up from the Gulf or maybe
grazing the
East Coast of Florida, storms eventually get to Weston, usually
around...the opening of the school year!
- News...
- EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT: In Weston and elsewhere and...FEMA.
- B A S I C S
- New report on Indian Point nuke
plant impact...
- EMERGENCY
SERVICES: Need vision into crises (in
order to perform rescue) and practice!
- "The
perfect storm," while not a Hurricane (above left), was due to hit
Weston Sunday, April 15, 2007. Now we are concerned about heavy
rainfall (2008).
- Shown above as well - PTO follows up in 2007
on what LWV of Weston panelists reported on the subject of
homeland security, November 2005; report...
- Cartbridge
Bridge re-opened.
- Mass Casualty Drill
- Y2K - 10 years later...
Hurricane season
2010...how many can we expect this year?
Hurricane Earl lashes Caribbean,
threatens US
YAHOO
By MIKE MELIA, Associated Press Writer
30 August 2010
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Hurricane Earl lashed the northeastern
Caribbean with heavy rain and strong winds Monday, causing flooding in
low-lying parts of the Leeward Islands as it gained strength on a
course that could threaten the eastern United States later this week.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Earl, which formed on
Sunday, already had sustained winds of 110 mph (175 kph) and was likely
to keep growing.
"It is possible that Earl could become a Category 4 hurricane as we get
into the middle to late portions of the week," hurricane center
specialist Michael Brennan said. Category 4 storms have sustained winds
of at least 131 mph (210 kph).
The storm's forecast track would carry its center north of the
Caribbean, then forecasters say it is likely to bend to the north,
moving roughly parallel to the U.S. East Coast. The hurricane center
said it is early to say what impact if any Earl would have on the U.S.
In Antigua, powerful wind and rain destroyed at least one home and at
least eight people had to be evacuated, though there were no reports of
critical injuries. Emergency response officials said about 350 people
were in shelters. Local weather authorities reported at least 5 inches
(13 centimeters) of rain and 10-foot (3-meter) waves.
In St. Maarten, the storm toppled trees and knocked out electricity to
much of the island but there were no reports of serious damage. Heavy
gusts of wind swirled debris across streets that were empty due to a
government-imposed curfew.
Alisha Daya, a 24-year-old tourist from Milwaukee, said she wore
earplugs Sunday night but still had trouble sleeping because of the
noise from the wind and crashing waves at the Oyster Bay Beach Resort
in St. Maarten.
"It was loud because we were right on the ocean," said Daya, who said
the storm will keep her and her parents and boyfriend from leaving the
island as planned on Monday although the worst seemed to have passed.
"Some furniture is flying around, but everything seems to be OK."
Cruise lines diverted ships to other ports in the Caribbean and Mexico
as a customary precaution for tropical weather. Antigua's V.C. Bird
International Airport closed, and regional airlines LIAT and Winair
suspended flights.
Hurricane warnings were in effect for Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, St.
Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, St. Martin, St. Barthelemy, St. Maarten, Saba,
St. Eustatius, the British Virgin Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Early Monday, Earl was about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north-northeast
of St. Martin and headed west-northwest at 14 mph (22 kph), according
to the center in Miami. Hurricane-force winds extended outward up to 50
miles (85 kilometers) from its center.
Earl has grown rapidly in strength, fueled by warm ocean temperatures
of 86 F (30 C).
Earl could bring battering waves and storm surges of up to four feet
(1.2 meters) above normal on some islands, as well as downpours that
threaten to unleash flash floods and mudslides.
Forecasters say there is a chance the hurricane could brush the U.S.
Mid-Atlantic region toward the end of the week, with its closest
approach to North Carolina on Friday.
In any case, the U.S. East Coast is likely to see pounding surf.
"Folks from the Carolinas northward through the Mid-Atlantic and New
England need to be paying attention to Earl and the forecasts as they
get updated through the week," Brennan said.
Meanwhile, the Category 1 Hurricane Danielle was weakening far out over
the north Atlantic.
Brace for active hurricane season
By CHASE WRIGHT, Hour Staff Writer
31 May 2010
Experts predict the upcoming hurricane season will be a top 10 year and
may seem "extremely active" in comparison to last year, which was
relatively calm.
AccuWeather Chief Hurricane Meteorologist Joe Bastardi expects 16 to 18
storms to hit the Atlantic basin this season, and at least six of those
will impact the United States coastline.
"2010 will be above average, and worst case scenario it may be in the
top 5 to 10 percent as far as impact to land areas in the Western
Hemisphere," Bastardi said.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting an
"active to extremely active" hurricane season in the Atlantic.
For the six-month season, which officially begins Tuesday, NOAA is
projecting as many as 23 named tropical storms, including up to seven
major hurricanes. Between eight to 14 storms would strengthen
into hurricanes, with top winds of 74 mph or higher. Three to seven of
those could become major storms that reach Category 3 or higher --
meaning they bring sustained winds of at least 111 mph.
"If this outlook holds true, this season could be one of the more
active on record," agency Administrator Jane Lubchenco said.
The outlook ranges exceed the seasonal average of 11 named storms, six
hurricanes and two major hurricanes. Amy Godsey, state
meteorologist for Florida, told The Hour that predictions for the
upcoming hurricane season are based on warming waters in the Atlantic
and weak upper atmospheric winds, which are conducive for storms.
"The big thing is how much decay will there be in El Niño,"
Godsey said. "There's still some uncertainty whether El Niño
will drop to neutral conditions or swing toward La Niña. If that
happens, you're looking at named storms in the 20s."
El Niño in the eastern Pacific has dissipated since peaking in
December, which means wind shear will be weaker and thus less likely to
break up storms, she said. Strong wind shear helped suppress
storm development during the 2009 hurricane season when only nine
storms formed, she said. With a busy hurricane season on the
horizon, Godsey suggests families and business owners in take time to
evaluate their emergency preparedness.
More information on how to prepare
can be found at www.Ready.gov and
www.hurricanes.gov/prepare.
Just wait a few weeks
or so...
After fix fail, a dispiriting
summer of oil, anger
YAHOO
By TED ANTHONY and MARY FOSTER, Associated Press Writers
30 May 2010
BOOTHVILLE, La. – There is still a hole in the Earth, crude oil is
still spewing from it and there is still, excruciatingly, no end in
sight. After trying and trying again, one of the world's largest
corporations, backed and pushed by the world's most powerful
government, can't stop the runaway gusher.
As desperation grows and ecological misery spreads, the operative word
on the ground now is, incredibly, August -- the earliest moment that a
real resolution could be at hand. And even then, there's no guarantee
of success. For the United States and the people of its beleaguered
Gulf Coast, a dispiriting summer of oil and anger lies dead ahead.
Oh ... and the Atlantic hurricane season begins Tuesday.
The latest attempt — using a remote robotic arm to stuff golf balls and
assorted debris into the gash in the seafloor — didn't work. On Sunday,
as churches echoed with prayers for a solution, BP PLC said it would
focus on containment rather than plugging the undersea puncture wound,
effectively redirecting the mess it made rather than stopping it. Yet
the new plan carries the risk of making the torrent worse, as top
government officials warned Sunday.
"We failed to wrestle this beast to the ground," said BP Managing
Director Bob Dudley, doing the rounds of the Sunday talk shows.
As the oil washes ashore, crude-coated birds have become a frequent
sight. At the sea's bottom, no one knows what the oil will do to
species like the newly discovered bottom-dwelling pancake batfish — and
others that remain unknown but just as threatened.
Scientists from several universities have reported large underwater
plumes of oil stretching for miles and reaching hundreds of feet
beneath the Gulf's surface, though BP PLC CEO Tony Hayward on Sunday
disputed their findings, saying the company's tests found no such
evidence of oily clouds underwater.
"The oil is on the surface," Hayward said. "Oil has a specific gravity
that's about half that of water. It wants to get to the surface because
of the difference in specific gravity."
Perhaps most alarming of all, 40 days after the Deepwater Horizon blew
up and began the underwater deluge, hurricane season is at hand. It
brings the horrifying possibility of wind-whipped, oil-soaked waves and
water spinning ashore and coating areas much farther inland. Imagine
Katrina plus oil spill.
The spill is already the worst in American history — worse, even, than
the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster. It has already released between 18
million and 40 million gallons of oil into the Gulf, according to
government estimates.
"This is probably the biggest environmental disaster we've ever faced
in this country," White House Energy and Climate Change Advisor Carol
Browner said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
At some point — the widespread debut of the BP "spillcam" is as good a
delineation point as any — this tipped, in the national conversation,
from a destructive event into a calamitous, open-ended saga. And for
the bruised and cantankerous American psyche, it could not come at a
worse time.
Fear is everywhere, and polarization prevails. Faith in institutions —
corporations, government, the media — is down. Americans are angry, and
they long ago grew accustomed to expecting the resolution of problems
in very short order, even if reality rarely works that way.
So when something undefined and uncontrollable happens, they speculate
in all the modern forums about collusion and nefarious dealings. In the
process, this tale of environmental disaster and economic damage
cripples the sea-to-shining-sea narrative that usually offers Americans
comfort during uncertain times.
"There are people who are getting desperate, and there are more getting
anxious as we get further into the shrimping season and there is less
chance they will recover," said the Rev. Theodore Turner, 57, at Mount
Olive Baptist Church in Boothville, near where oil first washed ashore.
Fishermen make up about a third of his congregation.
BP's next containment effort involves an assortment of undersea robot
maneuvers that would redirect the oil up and out of the water it is
poisoning.
The first step in BP's latest effort is the intricate removal of a
damaged riser that brought oil to the surface of the Deepwater Horizon
rig. The riser will be cut at the top of the crippled blowout
preventer, creating a flat surface that a new containment valve can
seal against.
The valve would force the oil into a new riser, bringing it up to a
ship. The seal, however, would not prevent all oil from escaping. White
House energy czar Carol Browner said Sunday the effort could result in
a temporary 20 percent increase in the flow. BP has said it didn't
expect a significant increase in flow from the cutting and capping plan.
If the containment valve fails, BP may try installing a blowout
preventer on top of the existing one.
In the end, however, a relief well would ease the pressure on the
runaway gusher in favor of a controlled pumping — essentially what the
Deepwater Horizon was trying to do in the first place. But that will
take at least two months.
Using government figures, if the leak continues at its current pace and
is stopped on Aug. 1, 51 million to 106 million gallons will have
spilled.
"They are going to destroy south Louisiana. We are dying a slow death
here," said Billy Nungesser, president of Plaquemines Parish, La.
Coastal tent cities are about to rise to house the workers and
contractors minimizing the damage. Sand banks and barriers are being
built. But the consensus around the Gulf Coast is turning more
apoplectic and apocalyptic. This is, people are starting to say, a
generational event — tragic to this generation, potentially crippling
to the next.
"The oil spill is part of prophecy," said Turner, the Louisiana
minister. "The Bible prophesized hardships. If we believe the word of
God is true — and we do — we also know that in addition to prophecying
hardships he promised to take care of us."
The Obama administration, which has been grilled for not taking the
reins sooner, sought to assure the public.
"I am resolute and confident that we will see a better day ahead of
us," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Saturday. And yet that
statement, stacked up against the word "August," tempers the optimism
for many watching this saga unfold.
They see a dissembling corporation, an ineffective government and an
ocean surface covered by a viscous shell with the consistency of
molasses and the peril of poison. To them, it comes down to only this:
There is still a hole in the Earth. Crude oil is still spewing from it.
And there is still, excruciatingly, no end in sight.
M A N D A T E A L E R T
Weston EMS explain what to do if your child
is injured
Weston FORUM
Written by Susan Jordan, WVFD
Saturday, 27 March 2010 00:00
EMT Marilyn Kirchner demonstrates “hands only” CPR to Jenine
Morledge.
Nisan Evantoff, director of Weston Injury Prevention and the
Heart Smart Program for Weston EMS, and Dana Katz, chairman of the
intermediate school PTO Parent Program Committee, spearheaded the
symposium.
The evening started with a panel of Weston EMS members
discussing different aspects of medical emergencies. The panel included
Jon Weingarten, president of Weston EMS; JT Sollazzo, chief of Weston
EMS; Michael Schlecter, training officer of Weston EMS; Mark
Goldenberg, safety officer of Weston EMS; plus Mr. Evantoff and Sgt.
Michael Ferullo of the Weston Police Department, director of emergency
management in Weston.
“We take great pride in educating parents of Weston in
preventing injuries,” Mr. Weingarten said. He then went on to read some
sobering statistics, including:
• Injury is the leading cause of death in children — falls,
bike injuries and drowning.
• Airway obstruction is the leading cause of death in
children under one.
Mr. Weingarten said, “There are common sense strategies for
preventing these injuries ... but when an injury does happen it’s
important to know the steps to take.”
These include:
• Recognize the nature and extent of the injury;
• Call 911 for help and give your address clearly;
• Initiate appropriate first aid; and
• Support your injured child and your other children.
Weston EMT Julia Braden talks to Tiffany and Steve Chila
about bone injuries at a recent childhood injuries symposium.
He also thanked the people of Weston for supporting EMS with
donations. “The contributions from all of you are what we use to keep
our organization running. We don’t receive funding from the town of
Weston.”
Mr. Schlecter talked about the importance of ongoing training
and told the group that EMS holds two training sessions a month.
“Tonight, we want to give you training to improve your preparedness.
You need to know what you can do while waiting for the ambulance to
arrive,” Mr. Schlecter said.
He and other panelists repeated throughout the evening that
parents should not feel shy about calling 911. If you’re worried, you
should call, Mr. Schlecter said. “No one knows your child and what is
normal or not normal better than you.”
Sgt. Ferullo discussed the CodeRed calls from Weston dispatch
used during last weekend’s storm. He said Weston Police, Fire and EMS
work together as a team. “The police are first on the scene followed by
the ambulance and fire if necessary.”
Mr. Goldenberg talked about making sure a scene is safe.
“That means protective eyewear if you are using chemicals or equipment
and always using a spotter if you’re on a ladder,” he explained. He
also encouraged parents to check their child’s sports equipment and
said, “if a helmet has a crack in it, throw it out.”
The panel took questions from the floor and discussion
followed on topics like, “What do I do if my child passes out?” Panel
members explained the importance of always making sure the airway is
clear first and then calling 911 for direction on what you can do while
waiting for the ambulance.
If a child has fallen, the child should not be moved until an
assessment can be made on any spinal cord injury.
Attendees broke into smaller groups for hands-on training.
The EMTs were at stations showing how to treat allergic reactions,
broken bones, and bleeding. There was also a station for hands-only CPR
on a mannequin.
T H E S T O R
M - P O W E R L I N E
S D O W N A N D R I V
E R S R I S I N G . . .
THANK YOU TOWN OF
WESTON EMERGENCY SERVICES!!!
Saturday at 6pm (l.6pm); Sunday at @10am (c.); DPW worked
through the night, coordinating with PD, EMS and FD; by @5pm
Sunday (r.) - March 12,13,14, 2010 rain and wind storm bigger event
elsewhere...but that's if you didn't lose power!
Photo
not previously published
CleanHarbors (the same firm?) at a regional household hazardous waste
collection. Senator Dodd visits Kleen
Energy plant site Feb. 16, 2010. Chemical Safety Board review
news.
Lawyers representing Middletown power
plant blast victims want site preserved
DAY
Michael Naughton
Article
published Mar 1, 2010
Two lawyers representing three men who were injured and the family of
one who was killed in the Middletown power plant explosion last month
are filing court documents seeking to preserve that they call evidence
on the property.
Robert I. Reardon Jr. and Reese Norris are filing a "bill of
discovery" today in Middletown Superior Court, seeking a court order
that the Middletown site and evidence on it be preserved to allow
their experts to investigate further.
Police investigators last week released the site of the Feb. 7
explosion back to the owners, O&G Industries and Kleen Energy
Systems. The order the two lawyers are seeking would bar O&G and
Kleen Energy from doing any clean up from the blast or continue
construction of the energy plant, which was near completion when it
blew up.
Five workers were killed in the explosion and several dozen were
injured.
Reardon represents Joseph Scovish of Oakdale, Kenneth Meloney of
Oakdale, and Dennis Riley of Manchester. He said all three received
head, neck and back injuries in the blast.
Norris represents the wife of Peter Chepulis, who was killed.
The lawyers are also including the city of Middletown in the request,
saying that investigators seized evidence after the blast.
KLEEN ENERGY: Agency Urges Moratorium On
Power-Plant Gas Line Purges
By DAVE ALTIMARI, The Hartford Courant
February 26, 2010
MIDDLETOWN —
Click here to find out more!
Federal authorities investigating the Kleen Energy plant explosion are
calling on similar plants or any industry that conducts high-pressure
natural gas purges to stop them until safer regulations can be put in
place.
Donald Holmstrom, the lead investigator for the Chemical Safety Review
Board, said at a press conference Thursday that there is an absence of
regulations guiding companies on how to safely do these dangerous gas
"blows."
Holmstrom said that the board expects to make recommendations to
improve the purging procedure and that Congress will hold hearings and
hopefully approve legislation to put new regulations for purging in
place.
"There are no national requirements to use safe practices in what is
becoming a much more common occurrence all across the country,"
Holmstrom said. "We strongly caution natural gas power plants and other
industries against the venting of high-pressure natural gas in or near
work sites. This practice, although common, is inherently unsafe."
The Kleen Energy blast on Feb. 7, which killed six and injured 26,
occurred during the purging, or cleaning, of a natural-gas pipeline
leading to the turbines in the main power block building. The gas was
purged from the auxiliary boiler on the southeastern side of the power
block building through a pipe that ran along the back wall of the
building.
The gas was vented out of temporary pipes less than 20 feet off the
ground all along the back of the building, Holmstrom said. One of those
venting pipes was in the tunnel-like area between the two giant towers,
known as heat recovery steam generators, behind the main building.
Holmstrom said that close to 400,000 cubic feet of natural gas, or
enough gas to fill a basketball arena, was purged into the mostly
enclosed area in the 10 minutes before the explosion occurred.
Holmstrom said that dumping the gas into such a congested area slowed
the dispersal rate and allowed the gas to build up to a point that it
reached the lowest explosive limit of at least 4 percent natural gas
and the rest air.
Investigators are still trying to determine what caused the explosion,
but Holmstrom said that's not a big focus of his agency right now. The
gas could have been ignited by one of several ignition sources because
welding and grinding were going on during the purge, a diesel fuel
heater was near the back wall of the building near where the explosion
occurred, and welders' work tables in the courtyard area might have
been charged.
Also, radio transmissions or even static electricity could have sparked
the blast, sources said.
"Ignition sources are hard to determine and this case is no different —
there were numerous potential ignition sources in and around that
building," Holmstrom said. "We're focusing on preventing something like
this happening again and in developing safe practices for the people
who work in these plants."
Holmstrom said one area that his investigators are reviewing is
eliminating the use of natural gas during the purges and instead
possibly replacing it with air, steam, nitrogen or even water. He said
that there also is a possibility of using combustion devices, similar
to flares, that can safely burn up the flammable gas or vapor.
Investigators believe that the six men killed were working in the
southwestern corner of the power block building, the closest part of
the building to where the blast occurred in the courtyard area.
A multi-agency group of local, state and federal agencies has been
working on the investigation. Investigators from the Chemical Safety
Review Board were originally not allowed into the Kleen Energy site
because they were not considered members of a law enforcement agency.
After several days of backroom dealing between state and federal
officials and congressional representatives, the team of 10 safety
board investigators was allowed on the site. The investigators have
been conducting their own interviews with witnesses, reviewing
documents and examining the blast site.
Holmstrom said they are still trying to work out an agreement with
state and local officials about the handling of evidence. Investigators
obtained a search warrant earlier this week allowing them to remove as
many as 75 pieces of evidence from the site.
The Chemical Safety Review Board is a federal agency that was formed to
investigate industrial accidents such as the Kleen Energy explosion.
The board has no criminal authority. Its recommendations carry
significant impact in changing fire and building codes.
Copyright © 2010, The Hartford
Courant
Middletown Power Plant Explosion: Massive
Amount Of Gas Released Before Blast
Dave Altimari, The Hartford Courant
11:18 AM EST, February 25, 2010
MIDDLETOWN
Close to 400,000 cubic feet of gas was released into the atmosphere
behind the Kleen Energy building in the final 10 minutes before the
explosion that killed six and injured 27, the lead investigator of the
U.S. Chemical Safety Board said today.
Donald Holmstrom, lead investigator of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board,
said that the gas was released into a congested area next to the power
block building, and that the congested area likely slowed the
dispersion of the gas and was ignited by an undetermined ignition
source. The gas released was enough to fill a basketball arena,
Holmstrom said.
"A major focus of the CSB investigation is to determine what
regulations, codes, and good practices might apply to these gas blows,
'' said Holmstrom.
He added, at a morning press conference in Middletown: "To this point,
no specific codes have been identified, but we are continuing our
research. In the meantime, we strongly caution national gas power
plants and other industries against the venting of high pressure
natural gas in or near work sites. This practice, although common, is
inherently unsafe."
The blast on Feb. 7 occurred during the purging, or cleaning, of a
natural-gas pipeline leading to the turbines in the power building. The
purged gas was directed outside the building -- the preferred method,
according to national safety experts. But a huge amount of the gas
pooled in a bowl-like area behind the main power block building while
crews were working inside.
The gas could have been ignited by one of several ignition sources
because welding and grinding was going on during the purge, a diesel
fuel heater was located near the back wall of the building near where
the explosion occurred, and welders' work tables located in the
courtyard area may have been charged.
In addition to the equipment, radio transmissions or even static
electricity could have sparked the blast, sources said. Investigators
believe the workers who were killed were working in the southwestern
corner of the power block building, the closest part of the building to
where the blast occurred right outside in a tunnel-like space called
the courtyard, between two giant towers.
A multi-agency group of local, state and federal agencies has been
working on the investigation. CSB investigators were originally not
allowed into the Kleen Energy site because they were not considered a
law enforcement agency. After several days of backroom dealing
between
state and federal officials and Congressional representatives, the CSB
investigators were allowed on the site. They have been conducting their
own interviews with witnesses.
The CSB is a little-known federal agency that was formed to investigate
industrial accidents such as the Kleen Energy explosion. While the
board has no criminal authority, its recommendations carry significant
impact in changing fire and building codes.
On Wednesday the National Fire Protection Association approved several
of the board's recommendations stemming from its investigation into the
ConAgra plant explosion in Garner, N.C., last June that killed three
and injured dozens more. At the ConAgra plant, workers were purging air
from a natural-gas pipe so that they could light a new water heater.
The vented gas built up in a utility room and exploded.
Copyright © 2010, The Hartford
Courant
6th victim dies from plant
explosion injuries
DAY
The Associated Press
Article published Feb 19,
2010
MIDDLETOWN,
Conn. (AP) _ A sixth person has died from injuries received in a Feb. 7
power plant explosion in Connecticut.
Middletown Police say that Kenneth Haskell of New Durham, N.H., died
Friday afternoon at Hartford Hospital.
The police say the 37-year-old Haskell was a superintendent for
Keystone Construction and Maintenance Services at the Kleen Energy
Plant.
Mayor Sebastian Giuliano says "It's like that Sunday all over again."
He says "It's just very sad."
The explosion at the nearly completed plant came as workers purged a
natural gas line.
Twenty people were also injured.
Report: Warning issued
just before Middletown blast
DAY
Associated Press
Article published Feb 18, 2010
MIDDLETOWN, Conn. (AP) — A worker monitoring natural gas levels at a
Middletown power plant reportedly called for an evacuation moments
before last week's explosion that killed five workers.
The Hartford Courant, citing witnesses and investigators it did not
identify, said the message, radioed throughout the Kleen Energy plant,
warned workers that gas meter readings had spiked.
Workers have told The Associted Press that they left after smelling
gas, but made no mention of an evacuation order. Middletown South
District Deputy Fire Chief Marc Fongemie said Thursday he did not know
if such an order was issued.
The newspaper reported Wednesday that investigators have recovered the
two gas meters used at the time of the explosion, which occurred while
workers were purging gas lines at the plant, which was under
construction.
Crews
Continue To Burn Off Fuel At Middletown Explosion Site
FOX CT
12:34 PM EST, February 14, 2010
MIDDLETOWN
Environmental crews remained at the Kleen Energy power plant Sunday to
burn off fuel from potentially dangerous containers.
Houston-based Clean Harbors spent Saturday performing the procedure,
and will continue doing so during the day Sunday and possibly Monday,
said South District Deputy Fire Chief Marc Fongemie.
Many gas cylinders were damaged in an explosion last Sunday, which
killed 5 people and injured 27, said Fongemie. Because of the damage,
the cylinders are not considered safe enough to transport, and their
contents must be burned off on-site.
Fongemie said anyone seeing black smoke from the plant should not
worry, and that the procedure is not considered dangerous to area
residents.
MIDDLETOWN:
Huge Buildup Of Gas Outdoors A Puzzle In Middletown
Blast Investigation
By DAVE ALTIMARI, JOSH KOVNER
and EDMUND H. MAHONY, The Hartford Courant
February 11, 2010
The five men killed in Sunday's blast at the Kleen Energy power plant
in Middletown were on the crew assigned to prepare a natural gas pipe
and turbine for purging inside the main power building.
They were responsible for monitoring the pipe during and after the
purging operation, sources said. All other nonessential personnel left
the building when the purging process was started.
At some point, several workers said, they smelled a strong odor of
natural gas inside and outside the main power building.
A union worker said he was told by co-workers that one or more
electricians working inside the building walked out because of the
smell. By leaving, they may have saved their lives because the force of
the blast, which occurred outdoors in what was known as the courtyard
behind the main power building, literally blew the walls off the
building.
The men left inside the building were killed by shrapnel and other
flying debris and not the initial explosion, a law enforcement source
said. Their bodies were found in front of the main building.
Peter Chepulis, Raymond Dobratz and Ronald Crabb were pipe fitters;
Chris Walters was a safety manager for Keystone Construction, a
subcontractor; and Roy Rushton was a supervisor involved with the
installation of the gas turbines at the plant.
Twenty-seven people were injured in the explosion. Most were standing
outside after they left the building while the purging took place or
were in construction trailers waiting for the test to be completed. The
blast threw some of them at least 40 feet in the air, but most of the
dangerous debris was blown forward through the main building.
Investigators believe the explosion originated in the rectangular
courtyard between the two giant retention towers, but the more
perplexing question is how the gas accumulated outside the building at
a level high enough to explode.
Investigators are looking at several possibilities for the source of
the ignition, including a welder's torch and static electricity.
But two experts in gas pipeline testing, Bryan Baesel and John Puskar
of Combustion Safety Inc. of Cleveland, said identifying the precise
ignition source is less important than understanding how enough natural
gas was able to accumulate outdoors to explode.
"There could have been 1,000 ignition sources. That much natural gas is
going to find an ignition source at some point," Baesel said.
Puskar said that for an outside explosion to occur, there would have
had to have been a tremendous amount of escaped gas.
He said a chemical known as mercaptan is added to natural gas to give
it an odor so it can be detected. But new pipes tend to absorb
mercaptan, he said, causing the odor to fade. If that were the case in
Middletown, he said, there could have been a large gas build-up before
workers smelled it.
He also said a phenomenon known as "odor fatigue," in which nasal
passages become saturated with the smell of gas over time, can make it
difficult for people to continue to detect the mercaptan.
Puskar said the purging crews typically use a detector, known as a
lower-explosive-limit or "LEL meter," to monitor any gas release.
Police officers heading the criminal investigation at the Kleen Energy
plant seized gas detectors, gas analyzers and security cameras earlier
this week.
Investigators spent a snowy Wednesday interviewing workers who were on
the site when the explosion occurred, according to Middletown Deputy
Fire Marshal Al Santostefano.
On-site investigation continued into late Tuesday night and could
resume this morning, depending on conditions following the snowstorm,
he said.
If weather conditions are appropriate today, officials plan to vent
natural gas that remains in a pipeline leading to the plant from the
Algonquin gas pipeline, which runs by the site. That venting will take
place a distance from the building and is intended to make work at the
site safe, Santostefano said.
Should the venting proceed, an announcement will be made this morning,
Santostefano said. "At no time will there be danger from this," he
said. "This is a very safe procedure."
Middletown Mayor Sebastian Giuliano said a search warrant covering the
explosion scene has been extended until at least Friday. He said
investigators were examining dozens of tanks at the site, many of them
welding tanks, with the intention of removing them as evidence. He said
that many of the tanks were damaged and that their contents would have
to be neutralized before they can be transported by truck.
O&G Industries, the general contractor for the construction, issued
its first public statement on the blast late Wednesday.
The company offered condolences to victims, pledged cooperation with
the criminal investigation and indicated that it plans to resume
construction in the future.
The statement said that while O&G was the general contractor and a
minority shareholder in Kleen Energy, it did not handle most of the
specialized work, including the piping. The statement didn't mention
who was in charge of Sunday's purging operation.
"O&G subcontracted this work to qualified companies who specialize
in these areas," the statement said. "Each of these major contractors
was required to have and adhere to their safety plan, as well as having
a safety officer on site during the performance of their work. Safety
personnel from all major contractors and O&G regularly perform
safety inspections on the site."
Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 777 released a statement Wednesday
saying that the union has established a fund to accept donations for
their three members — Crabb, Dobratz and Chepulis — who were killed in
the explosion. The union said two members remain hospitalized with
injuries. It also said it will not discuss the explosion further.
Those who worked on the plant and are now unemployed and can't get
their equipment can call a special phone number — 860-566-5790 — to
file unemployment claims.
•Courant staff writer David Owens
contributed to this story.
Copyright © 2010, The Hartford Courant
I-BBC
Page last updated at 23:19 GMT, Sunday,
7 February 2010
Connecticut power plant gas
explosion kills five people
The 620MW Kleen Energy plant was due to come
online in the summer
A huge explosion has rocked a power plant in
the US state of Connecticut, killing at least five people and injuring
12, the local mayor has said.
Middletown Mayor Sebastian Giuliano said it was caused by a
gas explosion.
People living up to 50km (30 miles) away reported that their
homes were shaken by the blast at the Kleen Energy plant, being built
outside Middletown.
There are reports of people trapped under the remains of a
plant building, and a rescue operation is under way.
Search experts and specialist dog teams were at the site
combing through the wreckage, the mayor said.
 |
 It really shook the
house and everybody was scared and the kids started to cry 
|
Speaking at a news conference on Sunday evening, Mr Giuliano
said that the identities of the dead had not yet been released as some
of the victim's families had not yet been informed.
Mr Giuliano said the plant, which was only 95% complete and
due to open fully in the summer, was undergoing a series of gas tests
when the explosion occurred.
He said between 100 and 200 people worked on the massive
site, and were employed by multiple contracting companies.
"How many people were here today - that's the number they
can't really nail down. They were purging gas lines all night long,
most people were evacuated from the building when they ran the tests,"
Mr Giuliano said.
The plant is located to the south of the town, on the
Connecticut River.
Earlier, deputy fire marshall Al Santostefano said there were
some 50 construction workers on the site at the time of the explosion.
At least 100 firefighters were sent to the scene and it had
taken them an hour to contain the fire caused by the blast, he said.
Officials say there is no further danger to the public, and
have not evacuated the area. The plant, however, remains cordoned off.
The nearby Middlesex Hospital told the Associated Press it
had received 11 victims, while the hospital in the state capital,
Hartford, has treated three others.
'Gas line test'
Mr Santostefano said a natural gas pipeline running near the
plant had exploded at 1117 (1617 GMT) sending a shockwave that one
local resident compared to an earthquake.
"We heard such a loud explosion and the dog was outside and I
heard her bark. And then when we went outside we saw a very big
explosion of bright orange flame between the two smoke stacks," Lynn
Townsend told the Associated Press.
"It really shook the house and everybody was scared and the
kids started to cry because they did not know if the house was going to
catch fire."
Fighting through tears, plant worker Paul Venti said: "It's
just horrible. All I know is I lost some union brothers. They are some
close close personal friends. It's horrible. They were working. They
were testing."
"I just heard there was a gas explosion and I'm getting all
kinds of phone calls from union brothers. We got some people up there
they got little kids that are at home and we lost them."
From the New York
Post (l)...and Associated Press
(c);
Click here to view
Jan. 15, 2010 report to the CT Siting Council.
And now there is the forensic analysis of how this disaster happened
and why. And how to prevent it from being replicated.
Middletown Power Plant Explosion: Focus On Worker's Torch
By JOSH KOVNER and
DAVE ALTIMARI, The Hartford Courant
1:10 PM EST, February 9, 2010
MIDDLETOWN —
Investigators are focusing on a welder's torch as the possible cause of
Sunday's deadly blast at the Kleen Energy Systems power plant, sources
said.
The explosion that killed five and hospitalized 27 people occurred
immediately after the purging, or cleaning, of the underground natural
gas pipeline that runs about 800 to 1,000 feet through the plant.
Sources familiar with the probe and with the purging operation said
that welding work wasn't entirely halted during or immediately after
the purging Sunday morning. That operation can result in an
accumulation of natural gas that must be vented from rooms and
enclosures before ignition sources, such as a welder's torch, can be
safely introduced, experts said.
Fran Walters, of Florissant, Mo., wife of Chris Walters, a safety
manager who died in the blast, said a police officer told her, "The
building was full of gas and before they could do anything, it was too
late."
Several sources said a purge was conducted Saturday without incident.
The plant was 96 percent complete and was being readied for a summer
opening.
Sunday's blast blew a construction trailer 40 feet into the air and was
heard and felt for miles. Several sources said there were also
industrial space heaters inside the otherwise heatless building.
"Why have people inside the building when doing this test?" U.S. Rep.
Joe Courtney said Monday. "You're just asking for trouble."
Courtney visited the blast scene Monday, just as state personnel were
preparing to remove some of the bodies from the area. He said members
of trade unions who had gathered at the site were allowed to escort
their fallen brothers out of the ravaged power plant."They moved in
while we were getting briefed. It was such a moving scene. It hurt
literally just seeing it," Courtney said.
State and Middletown police have control of the site and have a warrant
to search the area and seize evidence. Courtney said officials were
treating the plant as a crime scene for the purpose of limiting access
to the blast area as the search for the cause and origin of the blast
proceeds.
"The big thing is to be able to tell the families what the hell
happened out there," said one official.
Lawyers representing the Kleen Energy plant had told state regulators
in a Jan. 15 letter that the official opening of the plant, or the
"commercial operation date," was Nov. 30, 2010. But the letter, by
lawyers from Pullman & Comley to the Connecticut Siting Council,
went on to say that project officials were estimating that the plant
would be open by this summer.
New London attorney Robert Reardon, who is representing one of the
injured pipefitters, said subcontractors had been working seven days a
week recently to meet a late spring, early summer deadline.
"They were under tremendous pressure to get the plant finished,"
Reardon said Monday. "There was a rush to finish, and they were told,
'We have to get this done.'"
A separate state inquiry will focus on worker safety and other labor,
training, permitting and supervision issues at the site, Gov. M. Jodi
Rell announced Monday.
Deputy Middletown Fire Marshal Al Santostefano said the main
investigation, being conducted by multiple city, state, and federal
agencies, including the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health
Administration and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and
Explosives, will explore whether other ignition sources were present
during and after the purging.
"It's going to try to determine whether all electricity was shut down
as a precaution, workers moved from the area — all of those issues,"
Santostefano said.
Inspectors with the U.S. Chemical Safety Board will be looking closely
at whether the purging of natural gas contributed to the explosion. The
inspectors, who are civilians, were initially barred from the scene,
but Santostefano said Monday evening they are now part of the probe.
O&G Industries of Torrington is the general contractor building the
plant, and principal David Oneglia is also a partner in the ownership
of the plant.
In November, O&G paid a $1,000 fine for not meeting standards for
recording and reporting occupational injuries and illnesses, according
to OSHA records. The violation is in the least serious category of
violations, an OSHA spokesman said.
William Corvo, a principal partner in the Kleen Energy project,
declined Monday to answer questions about safety protocols or provide
details of the purging operation.
"We're focused now on the human side," said Corvo, who was the face of
the project in Middletown and in Connecticut during the seven-year
process to win permits, capacity contracts and about $1 billion in
financing. "We have people who were hurt, people who were killed. We're
worried about the families."
Kleen Energy's natural gas line connects to the Algonquin pipeline's
meter station at the base of the power plant site. The Algonquin line
is part of a national gas transmission system. The utility extended its
local line about 1.5 miles and constructed the meter station to
accommodate the project, said Algonquin spokeswoman Toni Beck.
"We introduced natural gas to the lateral and to the meter station in
November," said Beck. "Since then, Kleen Energy was taking flows as
they commissioned the plant."
She declined to say how much natural gas the plant was using.
Meanwhile, Congress plans to hold a hearing on the Kleen Energy
explosion.
U.S. Reps. Courntey, Rosa DeLauro, and John Larson said in a statement
Monday that they have received a commitment for a hearing from House
Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller.
They made the request after surveying the blast scene.
Courtney said it was "imperative that we review what went wrong and to
make sure that all appropriate measures are put in place to prevent
this type of catastrophe from happening again."
Rell on Monday said she was assembling a panel of state agencies to be
chaired by Senior U.S. District Judge Alan H. Nevas "to identify the
cause and origin of the Kleen Energy power plant explosion in
Middletown on Sunday, including any potential contributing factors"
such as construction problems, worker-safety issues, the adequacy of
the on-site supervision, and issues of training, licensing, and
permitting.
Rell said a second group of state agencies, local officials and experts
will review the disaster and the findings of the Nevas-led panel and
other investigations. The second panel will determine whether any
changes should be made to Connecticut laws, state and local regulations
or building and fire codes to protect both workers and residents living
in the areas surrounding construction projects.
"Our response to the Middletown explosion must follow two distinct but
critical paths," Rell said in a statement. "We must first identify what
went wrong and then determine every measure we can take to prevent
future catastrophes. The reviews must be thorough, impartial and swift.
And if there are concrete steps we can take in the meantime, we must be
equally swift in putting those new measures into place."
Courant staff writers David Owens,
Daniela Altimari and Ken Gosselin contributed to this story.
Copyright © 2010, The Hartford
Courant
Kleen Energy plant's promise of lower
energy costs put on hold
By Patricia Daddona Day Staff Writer
Article published Feb 9, 2010
The future of the Middletown Kleen Energy power plant, ravaged by an
explosion on Sunday, is now on the shelf, and with it a promise of
reduced energy costs in Connecticut.
A criminal investigation into the accident is under way, and a safety
review and hearings by state officials and Congress are being sought.
As those probes begin, prospects for Kleen Energy Systems LLC and its
largest investor, Energy Investors Funds of Boston and San Francisco,
to rebuild the plant remain unclear.
Consumers will not feel any impact from the devastating loss associated
with Sunday's explosion because the plant had not yet begun to generate
electricity. Moreover, the supply it is intended to provide would be
largely surplus power, aimed at a market that is already projected to
handle the load through mid-2011, at least.
The largest and only power plant of its type being built in Connecticut
today, the 620-megawatt gas-and-oil fired generator of electricity is
designed to run around the clock or when needed, said Erin O'Brien, a
spokeswoman with ISO New England. It was on track to operate as soon as
May, according to the Connecticut Siting Council.
As such, the plant was expected to help alleviate a longstanding energy
bottleneck caused by high demand in southwestern Connecticut and even
may have led to cheaper prices in Connecticut and New England, energy
experts said Monday.
A megawatt produces enough electricity to power about 500 homes, said
Derek Phelps, executive director of the Siting Council, which granted
the plant a certificate of environmental compatibility and public need.
That would mean the plant could have generated enough electricity to
power about 310,000 homes.
Connecticut Light & Power had a contract with Kleen Energy to buy
its electricity. The plant, which had been under construction since
2007 by O&G Industries of Torrington, was more than 95 percent
complete when the explosion occurred Sunday.
"The loss or delay of this facility will have no impact on supply or
the price of power for CL&P customers," which number about 1.2
million, said CL&P spokesman Mitch Gross. "We've already bought all
of our power for 2010 and purchased most of our power for 2011. We've
also gone out looking for 2012 (supplies) already."
The electricity the Kleen Energy plant would have provided and may yet
provide would have been in excess of what is currently needed daily to
power Connecticut, O'Brien said.
ISO New England is the regional manager of New England's bulk-power
generation and transmission system, overseeing planning and fair
administration of wholesale electricity markets to ensure reliability.
"Our projections at this time show we have some surplus (electricity)
that's anticipated to be available in the mid-2011 time frame," said
O'Brien. "We're assessing the long-term impact more fully."
Nonetheless, state Sen. John Fonfara, co-chair of the legislature's
Energy Committee, said the plant is "very much needed" and was counted
on to boost capacity on the power grid and help keep down energy prices.
Energy efficiency programs and improvements to transmission services
have already helped alleviate congestion and lower consumer costs,
O'Brien said, but she acknowledged that ample supplies would generally
tend to reduce demand and lower prices further.
The Kleen Energy power plant was the largest of a variety of projects
approved by the state Department of Public Utility Control to add
capacity in the state, said DPUC spokesman Phil Dukes.
Connecticut has more than 7,900 megawatts of electricity at its
disposal and about 25 percent of total capacity in all of New England,
O'Brien said. To date, 30 percent is supplied by natural gas, 33
percent by oil, 26 percent by nuclear reactors, 7 percent with coal and
1 percent with hydro-electric power, she said.
The power plant was not required to be operational until November, with
supplies of electricity not expected to be handled by ISO New England
until June of 2011, O'Brien said.
Late Monday, the Fitch ratings service placed the loan terms for Kleen
Energy Systems LLC on a negative ratings watch. "Fitch believes the
accident may prevent Kleen from achieving the sponsor's originally
projected completion date, and the length of the delay cannot be
estimated at this time," the ratings agency said.
Energy Investors Funds said in a statement it is cooperating with
authorities. EIF is the private equity fund manager that raised $985
million in financing to build the facility.
"Energy Investors Funds wishes to express our enormous sympathy and
concern for the workers at the Kleen Energy plant and their families.
We strongly value their contributions, efforts and dedication," the
private equity group said.
An Associated Press report was used
in this story.
Explosion Investigation
Focusing On Safety Issues
Josh Kovner, The Hartford Courant
2:29 PM EST, February 8, 2010
MIDDLETOWN —
Possible gaps in safety protocols at the Kleen Energy power plant are
at the center of the investigation into Sunday's blast that killed five
and injured 12. It occurred during the always-dangerous process of
purging, or cleaning, of the underground, high-pressure natural-gas
pipeline that runs about 800 to 1,000 feet through the facility.
Sources familiar with the purging operation and the construction and
maintenance of the Kleen Energy pipeline reported these concerns to The
Courant:
• That welding operations weren't entirely halted and other ignition
sources may have been present during the purging Sunday morning;
• That the area wasn't completely cleared of workers and vehicles
during the operation;
• Clutter and other safety issues at the site had delayed the purging
operation for a short time and caused it to be re-scheduled to Sunday;
• That high-pressure natural gas was used to purge the pipe, as opposed
to non-flammable nitrogen, which had been used for other operations at
the plant;
• That the fill material covering the pipe was not compacted to a
sufficient degree.
Deputy Middletown Fire Marshal Al Santostefano said the investigation
-- being conducted by multiple city, state, and federal agencies,
including the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and
the U.S. Chemical Safety Board -- will focus in particular on whether
there were other ignition sources present during the purging.
"It's going to try to determine whether all electricity was shut down
as a precaution, workers moved from the area -- all of those issues,''
Santostefano said. He said he did not yet know what type of gas was
used to purge the gas line.
Investigators with the U.S. Chemical Safety Board will be looking
closely at whether the purging of natural gas contributed to the
explosion.
"Reports indicate that this may have involved gas purging,'' said
spokesman Daniel Horowitz said. "This is an issue the board is very
concerned about.'' The board recently issued safety recommendations
concerning purging after investigating the natural-gas explosion in
June 2009 at the ConAgra Slim Jim production facility in Garner, N.C.,
which caused four deaths, three critical life-threatening burn
injuries, and other injuries that sent a total of 67 people to the
hospital.
Santostefano said authorities believe many of those on the site at the
time of the explosion worked for O&G Industries of Torrington, the
general contractor building the plant, which was more than 95 percent
complete.
In November, O&G paid a $1,000 fine for not meeting standards for
recording and reporting occupational injuries and illnesses, according
to OSHA records. The violation is in the least serious category of
violations, an OSHA spokesman said.
The Middletown explosion is the most serious incident of its type in
the country in at least a year, Horowitz said.
William Corvo, a principal partner in the Kleen Energy Project,
declined this morning to answer questions about safety protocols or
provide details of the purging operation.
"We're focused now on the human side,'' said Corvo, who was the face of
the project in Middletown and in Connecticut during the seven-year
process to win permits, capacity contracts, and about $1 billion in
financing. "We have people who were hurt, people who were killed. We're
worried about the families.
Kleen Energy's natural-gas line connects to the Algonquin pipeline's
meter station at the base of the power-plant site. The Algonquin line
is part of a national gas-transmission system. The utility extended its
local line about 1.5 miles and constructed the meter station to
accommodate the project, said Algonquin spokeswoman Toni Beck.
"We introduced natural gas to the lateral and to the meter station in
November,'' said Beck. "Since then, Kleen Energy was taking flows as
they commissioned the plant.''
She declined to say how much natural gas the plant was using.
Courant Staff Writers Daniela Altimari and Ken Gosselin contributed to
this story.
Copyright © 2010, The Hartford Courant
Cause of Middletown blast
unknown
By Lee Howard
Publication: The Day
Published 02/08/2010 12:00 AM
Updated 02/08/2010 10:38 AM
Middletown - A routine cleaning procedure preceded a huge explosion and
fire Sunday morning that destroyed a natural gas plant under
construction here, leaving five people dead and 12 injured.
One of those killed was 58-year Raymond Dobratz of Old Saybrook, who
was working as a pipefitter supervisor. He was flown by Life Star
helicopter to Hartford Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Mayor Sebastian N. Giuliano said during a news conference at nearby
Woodrow Wilson Middle School late Sunday afternoon that as many as 200
people had been working at different points during the day at the
620-megawatt plant. The plant, which is owned by Kleen Energy Systems,
was constructed to be one of the cleanest natural gas-fired power
facilities in the world.
It was unclear how many people were at the plant at the time of the
explosion. Officials said Sunday night that no one was known to be
missing but that firefighters would continue to comb through the
destroyed building overnight in case there are any other victims.
"Something ignited the gas," said Giuliano, who felt the ground shake
in downtown Middletown during the blast, which he likened to a sonic
boom.
Residents as far away as Mystic reported that they felt or heard the
blast.
The explosion occurred as power-plant personnel tried to clean two of
the site's gas lines, said state Sen. Thomas Gaffey, D-Meriden. He said
standard procedure is to reduce the number of people on site at the
time of the gas-line purge, a protocol that may have reduced the
casualty numbers.
Gaffey said workers on site most likely would have included
pipefitters, plumbers and electricians. During the week, as many as 300
or 400 workers are on site, said Gaffey, who estimated the
multimillion-dollar plant, which was scheduled for completion in the
next few months, was about 95 percent finished.
The exterior of the power plant was largely destroyed, with the blast
exposing the innards of the facility. No estimate was given for the
damage.
"What used to be siding was hanging off like strips of ribbon,"
Giuliano said.
Nearby homes, he added, exhibited earthquake-like damage, such as
crumbling walls, broken windows and cracks in the roofs. No one,
however, had to be evacuated.
Marc Fongemie, deputy chief of operations for one of the Middletown
fire departments, said the search-and-rescue operation was being
extended to a range that included the farthest spot where debris was
located. Police blocked off roads so no one could get to the blast site.
This isn't the first time a natural-gas explosion has occurred during a
purging operation.
Just last year in Garner, N.C., three people were killed, four others
were critically burned and 71 went to the hospital when a blast at a
Slim Jim meat processing plant owned by ConAgra Foods occurred during a
similar procedure. Another problem during a gas-purging operation
occurred in 2008 at a Hilton Hotel in San Diego, injuring 14.
Both of these purging procedures were linked to venting gas indoors
"without proper monitoring or safeguards," leading the U.S. Chemical
Safety Board to issue a safety bulletin, according to an article in
Occupational Health & Safety magazine.
Officials said it was unclear what led to Sunday's blast. A formal
investigation will begin today, Deputy Fire Marshal Al Santostefano
told The Associated Press.
The contractor on the project was listed as O&G Industries, a
Torrington company that has been involved in many local projects,
including building several schools in Waterford.
Other subcontractors were also at the Middletown plant, according to
officials, creating initial confusion about how many people were on the
site at the time of the blast.
Guiliano stressed that the 11:19 a.m. explosion was the result of an
industrial accident, not terrorism. Officials said the names of those
killed would be released after their next of kin were notified.
The Red Cross has set up a hotline for families to get information
about victims at (860) 347-2577. Other agencies involved in the
operation included the Department of Homeland Security, Connecticut
State Police and the federal Occupational Health and Safety
Administration, as well as many fire departments and emergency medical
responders around Connecticut.
Giuliano said he knows some victims were taken to Middlesex Hospital.
Two victims were transported to Hartford Hospital.
Injuries were described as ranging from minor to potentially
life-threatening.
Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who went to the scene, activated the Emergency
Operations Center in Hartford.
"I thank the many first responders who are braving the very cold and
windy conditions," Rell said.
Rell announced a temporary no-fly zone over the site of the plant
explosion "because of the instability of the heavily damaged building."
The flight restrictions are in effect until 5:21 p.m. today.
The Kleen Energy Systems plant, located at 1349 River Road, is on a
prime piece of land on a hilltop overlooking the Connecticut River. The
fire could be seen for miles around, officials said.
Numerous residents in southeastern Connecticut reported hearing the
explosion and feeling their houses shake.
"I thought a tree fell on the garage," said Kathy Pagani of Ledyard. "I
can't believe it was so far away for me to have felt it and heard it
here in Ledyard."
Bob Walter of Colchester was in his basement doing some work at the
time and thought it was a short tremor.
"We've had them out here before," he said. "But I was shocked when I
heard that it was the accident in Middletown and thought to myself that
was one heck of an explosion."
Kleen Energy Systems is controlled by Energy Investors Funds Group,
according to a report on Bloomberg.com. The plant had a 15-year
contract to provide enough electricity to Northeast Utilities to fuel
about half a million homes, according to a summary of its project found
online.
Algonquin Gas Transmission Co. is the gas supplier to the plant,
according to Bloomberg.
Weston
connection - O&G was construction manager of our school/fields $79
million plus bond issue projects
Power plant project beset by controversy
Stamford ADVOCATE
By Rob Varnon, STAFF WRITER
Published: 11:31 p.m., Sunday, February 7, 2010
The Middletown power plant that exploded Sunday morning, killing at
least five and injuring more than a dozen people, was still under
construction and already a controversial project in the region.
O&G Industries, a statewide construction company, was in charge of
building the Kleen Energy plant on River Road.
A woman answering the phone early Sunday afternoon at O&G's
Torrington headquarters said there was no one there to officially
answer questions and that everything is "crazy right now."
The facility is listed on O&G's Web site as a 620-megawatt
gas-fired power plant. That would be enough power to serve as many as
620,000 homes.
The facility's backup fuel is oil. The plant was slated to become
operational this September, but a filing by the project team from
January said construction was ahead of schedule and the plant could be
on line in the summer. The plant itself sits near the banks of the
Connecticut River.
O&G has been involved in the project since it first made its way
through the local and state permitting process in 2002.
But the plant was controversial from conception mainly on environmental
grounds, though some questioned the involvement of the primary
developer, Philip Armetta, a politically connected businessman.
In 2006, Armetta was indicted by a federal grand jury alongside other
owners of trash hauling businesses as part of the same federal
investigation that involved James Galante, of Danbury.
On April 27, 2007, Armetta, then 76, pleaded guilty to one felony count
of evading federal banking laws. He made multiple transactions of less
than $10,000 to try to skirt mandatory reporting requirements. He was
sentenced in December of that year to two months in prison and two
years of probation.
While there were some grumblings in the community, going back to 2002,
about Armetta's involvement, the main objections focused on
environmental concerns.
There was little said about safety.
But environmentalists were concerned about spills of fuel or other
discharge, especially into the Connecticut River.
One group gathered 600 names opposing the plant in 2002 because of
concerns about the impact on wetlands in the area and whether it would
limit access to nature trails running through the Maromas area.
Maromas is a hilly area in Middletown with several trails popular with
mountain bikers and hikers.
Despite objections, the project cleared zoning, wetlands and the City
Council by large majorities, though one councilman at the time, Earle
V. Roberts Jr., voted against the project. Roberts had a home in the
Maromas area at the time, but a number is no longer listed for him.
One of the key reasons the plant was approved by the Connecticut Siting
Council in 2002 was in anticipation of providing electricity to
Fairfield County via the new 345-kilovolt electricity line built by
Connecticut Light & Power Co. and United Illuminating Co. That line
was only being proposed at the time, but it has since been built and
gone into service.
There have been several new plants approved in the state since 2002,
including expansion projects in Bridgeport and Milford.
Gas blast at Conn. power plant kills
at least 5
YAHOO
By PAT EATON-ROBB and JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN, Associated
Press Writers
Feb. 7, 2010
MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – An explosion that sounded like a sonic boom blew
out walls of an unfinished power plant and set off a fire during a test
of natural gas lines Sunday, killing at least five workers, injuring a
dozen or more and leaving crews picking through debris for more
possible victims. At least 12 people were injured in the
explosion at the Kleen Energy Systems plant in Middletown, about 20
miles south of Hartford. Crews with dogs were still searching the
rubble as darkness fell over the plant, on a wooded hill along the
Connecticut River.
It wasn't clear how many people, if any, were still buried. Deputy Fire
Marshal Al Santostefano told The Associated Press that 50 to 60 people
were in the area at the time of the explosion, but authorities said
multiple contractors were working on the project, making it difficult
to pinpoint how many people were missing.
"I think a majority of them did survive," Santostefano said. "Most of
them did walk away."
The explosion left huge pieces of metal that once encased the plant
peeling off its sides. A large swath of the structure was blackened and
surrounded by debris, but the building, its roof and its two
smokestacks were still standing. Rescue crews had set up several tents
alongside the site. The explosion happened around 11:15 a.m.,
Santostefano said. Mayor Sebastian Giuliano, who heard the blast,
called it a gas explosion but said the exact cause wasn't immediately
clear.
"It felt almost like a sonic boom," Giuliano said at an evening news
conference.
The search was focusing in part on who was at the plant at the time of
the explosion. Giuliano said 100 to 200 workers would have been there
on a typical weekday.
"They're trying to figure out who was on the job today and where are
they now," Giuliano said.
One of those killed was Raymond Dobratz, a 57-year-old plumber from Old
Saybrook, said his son, Eric Dobratz, who called the elder man "a great
dad."
The 620-megawatt plant, which was almost complete, is being built to
produce energy primarily using natural gas. Santostefano said workers
for the construction company, O&G Industries, were purging the gas
lines, a procedure he called a "blow-down," when the explosion
occurred. The building was still standing, but the blast blew out
the sheet metal that covers its sides.
Lynn Hawley, 54, of Hartland, Conn., told The Associated Press that her
son, Brian Hawley, 36, is a pipefitter at the plant. He called her from
his cell phone to say he was being rushed to Middlesex Hospital.
"He really couldn't say what happened to him," she said. "He was in a
lot of pain, and they got him into surgery as quickly as possible."
She said he had a broken leg and was expected to survive.
Officials had not released the conditions of the other injured people
by Sunday evening, although they said at least a dozen people had
injuries ranging from minor to very serious. The thundering blast
shook houses for miles.
"I felt the house shake, I thought a tree fell on the house," said
Middletown resident Steve Clark.
Barrett Robbins-Pianka, who lives about a mile away and has monitored
the project for years, said she was running outside and heard what she
called "a tremendous boom."
"I thought it might be some test or something, but it was really loud,
a definite explosion," she said.
Work on the plant was 95 percent complete, the mayor said.
Kleen Energy Systems LLC began construction on it in February 2008. It
had signed a capacity deal with Connecticut Light and Power for the
electricity produced by the plant, which was scheduled to be completed
by mid-2010. The company is run by president and former
Middletown City Council member William Corvo. A message left at Corvo's
home was not immediately returned. Calls to Gordon Holk, general
manager of Power Plant Management Services, which has a contract to
manage the plant, weren't immediately returned.
Energy Investors Funds, a private equity fund that indirectly owns a
majority share in the power plant, said it is fully cooperating with
authorities investigating the explosion. In a written statement, the
company offered sympathy and concern and would release more information
on the explosion as it becomes available. Plants powered by
natural gas are taking on a much larger role in generating electricity
for the U.S. Gas emits about half the greenhouse gases of coal-fired
plants and new technology has allowed natural gas companies to begin to
unlock gas supplies that could total more than 100 years at current
usage levels.
Natural gas is used to make about a fifth of the nation's electricity.
Gov. M. Jodi Rell visited the scene Sunday; she earlier called out a
specialized search and rescue team to help firefighters.
The state's Emergency Operations Center in Hartford also was activated,
and the Department of Public Health was called to provide tents at the
scene for shelter and medical triage. Rell said the emergency
teams were expected to work through the night and into Monday.
Daniel Horowitz, a spokesman with the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, said
the agency is mobilizing an investigation team from Colorado and hopes
to have the workers on the scene Monday.
Safety board investigators have done extensive work on the issue of gas
line purging since an explosion last year at a Slim Jim factory in
North Carolina killed four people. They've identified other explosions
caused by workers who were unsafely venting gas lines inside buildings.
The board voted last week to recommend that national and international
code writers strengthen their guidelines to require outdoor venting of
gas lines or an approved safety plan to do it indoors.
In February 2009, an explosion at a We Energies coal-fired power plant
near Milwaukee burned six workers. The Occupational Safety and Health
Administration is still investigating.
In the past few years, an explosion at a Dominion Virginia Power
coal-fired plant in Massachusetts killed three workers in November
2007, while one worker and nine others were injured at an American
Electric Power plant of the same type in Beverly, Ohio, in January
2007.
Huge Conn. power plant explosion,
'mass casualties'
NYPOST
Last Updated: 4:12 PM, February 7, 2010
Posted: 12:51 PM, February 7, 2010
A huge explosion at a Connecticut power plant killed at least two
people and caused mass casualties.
Details on the number of injuries and fatalities varied according to
different reports and various officials.
Al Santostefano, Middletown Deputy Fire Marshal told NewsCore that 50
construction workers were at the Kleen Energy power plant when the
explosion occurred. Santostefano confirmed that there were fatalities
and injuries, but could not confirm the number of injured or dead.
He told the Hartford Courant the devastating blast occurred as workers
attempted a "blow down," or purge, of natural gas pipelines. Early
reports are that the cause was a gas leak.
The search and rescue efforts are ongoing, Santostefano told NewsCore.
He said he did not know of any plant workers at the location during the
blast. He also said people may be trapped underneath the rubble and
that emergency officials were conducting search and rescue operations.
The Hartford Courant reported medical rescue personnel as saying that
there were at least two fatalities, and as many as 100 people injured,
including four in critical condition. The paper also reported that as
many as 20 ambulances were on scene and quoted a witness as saying
"there are bodies everywhere."
The Connecticut Post reported that four people were pulled from the
rubble with life-threatening injuries and a source at the scene told
the Post that the death toll will rise beyond two.The Post also
reported a source on scene as saying that the search and rescue
operation had turned into a recovery operation as state police were on
scene with rescue dogs.
Local affiliate WFSB reported that 2 had died and 250 were injured in
the explosion.
Viktoria Sundqvist, managing editor of the local newspaper The Register
Citizen, told Sky News that she had heard a report from an emergency
worker on scene that up to 34 people had died and 100 were wounded.
The power plant is not currently operation. The plant has been under
construction and is not yet online. The plant's general manger Gordon
Holk told WVIT that the plant is a 620 megawatt gas-fired power plant.
Fire officials on scene confirmed that the plant was connected to a
natural gas pipeline.
Police Sgt. Chuck Jacobucci told NewsCore there are mass casualties,
but police don’t know how many people were in the building when the
explosion occurred and if the people were plant employees or
construction workers. Tests were being performed in the plant Sunday
but Jacobucci said he did not know if gas was involved in the tests.
Most of the injured were transported to nearby Middlesex Hospital, but
some have been flown by helicopter to other hospitals, Santostefano
said. Two emergency helicopters, which can transport two passengers
each, have made one trip to hospitals with patients and have returned
to the scene, Santostefano added.
Middletown South Fire District told Fox News earlier that 100 people
were working at the plant at the time of the explosion. Fox News also
reported that the explosion’s impact could be felt as far away as Long
Island sound.
Middletown fire commissioner David Gallitto told NewsCore that two
helicopters were on scene and had transported an unknown number of
injured people to nearby hospitals, Gallitto said.
Santostefano said there were multiple structures on the power plant
site. He said it appears that the explosion took place in the rear of
the largest building, which was entirely damaged.
Local affiliate WTNH reported on-air that a ball of fire could be seen
after the explosion. The station also reported that homes near the
plant have been damaged by the explosion.
HURRICANE SEASON 2009: Always a significant factor in Weston
local elections. Most recent at the top (moving through the
alphabet...)
Victims of Maine Wave Are Identified
NYTIMES
By LIZ ROBBINS
August 25, 2009
Clio Dahyun Axilrod and her parents had joined the thousands of
visitors on Sunday enthralled by the spectacular waves fueled by
Hurricane Bill that were breaking off the Atlantic Coast of Acadia
National Park in Maine.
But as one series of waves crashed off the rocky cliffs about 350 feet
south of the popular Thunder Hole, the family, from New York City,
recognized the danger, turned around and headed up a diagonal path
toward the roadway.
They were about 40 feet from the main road, Ocean Drive, witnesses told
a park ranger, when a 20-foot-high swell exploded into the air,
sweeping Clio, 7; her father, Peter J. Axilrod, 55, and five other
people out to sea. Clio’s mother, Sandra M. Kuhach, 51, was knocked to
the ground and seriously injured. Officials say at least 13 people were
hit by the giant wave and 16 were admitted to Mount Desert Island
Hospital in Bar Harbor, Me., with injuries.
Four of those who were dragged into the ocean were able to make it out
on their own from the 55-degree water to safety, said a Coast Guard
spokesman, Chief Petty Officer Christopher Wheeler.
About an hour after the wave carried him into the ocean, Mr. Axilrod
was rescued by the Coast Guard in a 47-foot lifeboat.
A 12-year-old girl, Simone Pelletier of Belfast, Me., was also brought
to safety by the Coast Guard, and taken to Mount Desert Island Hospital
with non-life-threatening injuries.
But it took rescuers more than three hours to find Clio, whose lifeless
body was located about a half-mile from shore. She died from drowning,
the Maine Marine Patrol said Monday.
Her parents remained hospitalized at Eastern Maine Medical Center, a
patrol spokesman said in a news release. The family lives on the Upper
East Side of Manhattan.
Acadia National Park’s chief ranger, Stuart West, recounted on Monday
how a sunny summer weekend day suddenly turned tragic.
Earlier Sunday, park officials had closed off the paved walkway and
series of interlocking gates that led to viewing stations at Thunder
Hole, an inlet with a submerged cave that is known to produce booming,
plumelike waves. On Friday signs warning visitors were posted there and
on Sand Beach, just to the north.
But Mr. West said that the bedrock path in the undeveloped area south
of Thunder Hole was not closed. “We didn’t close off all the rock
areas,” he said. “I don’t think there was a need for it. The fact that
there was high surf, and the good weather, it was like a bug to a
light. People were going to go no matter what.”
Ten park rangers were on duty Sunday morning, he said, with others
reporting throughout the day to monitor the conditions and the park
crowd, which numbered about 10,000 throughout the day.
“If you close off an area, people are going to spill into another
area,” Mr. West said. “And if we keep those areas contained, and stack
them full of rangers, that way we can have an immediate response, which
is what happened.”
Mr. West said he did not know whether a park ranger had warned the
victims and it was unclear if they had seen the warning signs in nearby
areas.
Park rangers learned from the Coast Guard, Mr. West said, that the
waves, about 15 feet high, were arriving at 16-second intervals, about
two hours before high tide. The penultimate wave in the fatal series
landed at the ankles of observers on the rocks. The one after that was
unlike all the rest.
“Nature is forceful and unpredictable — and it just moves us to pay
close attention to where we are,” said Mr. West, who was at Schoodic
Point, another beach on the mainland part of the park, when the
accident occurred. “You could tell people to step back, but they didn’t
register how dangerous the waves were.”
“All I can say,” he added, “is that we do the best we can to educate
the public. They are ultimately responsible for their safety and their
family’s safety.”
By Monday, the number of visitors along Ocean Drive had dwindled, along
with the size of the waves. The ocean near Acadia had calmed as
Hurricane Bill, which had been downgraded to a tropical storm when it
hit off the coast of Cape Cod late Saturday, had moved far east into
the Atlantic.
Bermuda, US coast warned as Bill stays offshore
DAY
By MATT SEDENSKY, Associated Press Writer
Posted on Aug 21, 7:56 AM EDT
MIAMI (AP) -- Hurricane Bill weakened slightly early Friday but
still
threatened to flood Bermuda's coastlines and generate dangerous waves
and riptides along the eastern U.S. coast.
The Category 3 storm's maximum sustained winds lost a little
strength
to near 115 mph, from 125 mph late Thursday. Forecasters said the
hurricane was becoming less organized but could still regain some
strength. The storm was forecast to start gradually weakening Saturday.
Bill was expected to cause significant flooding along the
Bermuda
coastlines Friday and Saturday and Bermuda issued a tropical storm
warning.
Along the eastern U.S. coast, waves of 20 feet and more offshore
and
rip currents at the beach are expected over one of the summer's last
weekends. Forecasters warned boaters and swimmers from northeastern
Florida to New England because of incoming swells as Bill passes far
out to sea on a northward track for Canada's Maritime provinces...
Earlier...
Hurricane Bill Looms in
Atlantic at
Category 4
NYTIMES
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 19, 2009Filed at 2:22 p.m. ET
MIAMI (AP) -- Hurricane Bill howled over the open Atlantic as a
dangerous Category 4 storm Wednesday, and it could be energized by
warmer waters as it moves north.
Forecasters said Bill should begin pushing large swells toward
Bermuda
and parts of the southeastern U.S. coast by the weekend, but it wasn't
yet clear how close the storm will come to land.
The National Hurricane Center also said people in the Leeward
Islands
should keep an eye on the storm, though its core was expected to pass
well to the northeast of the chain in the next 24 hours. Fishermen in
Antigua were advised to dock their boats.
As strong as Bill already is, it could get stronger because it's
traveling into warmer waters in the Atlantic that could intensify the
storm, said senior hurricane specialist Lixion Avila.
''The warm ocean is like the fuel for car,'' Avila said
Wednesday. ''If
you get high octane gas you get more power -- that's what warmer water
does.''
Bill was maintaining a top wind speed of 135 mph Wednesday,
hours after
it became a Category 4 storm, and forecasters said it could get
stronger. The storm's center was located 380 miles east of the Leeward
Islands -- or nearly 1,400 miles southeast of Miami -- and it was
moving west-northwest near 18 mph.
The most significant threat could be to Bermuda, which the storm
could
pass in three or four days, forecasters said. But it also could move
directly between Bermuda and the eastern coast of the U.S. without
making landfall.
It was too early to tell if Bill would veer close to shore over
the
weekend or swing away from the East Coast of the U.S., but the five-day
forecast predicted its center would pass well offshore of the North
Carolina-Virginia line Saturday.
A cold front was expected to turn Bill to the northeast, but it
wasn't
clear when that would happen, Blake said.
CODE RED "FAQ".
What do you think CODE RED does
for you as a Weston citizen? The FAQ answered our
questions! Click above, on "FAQ"
Redoubt settles a bit but is building
dome...we all know what that can mean, based upon Hollywood versions of
this natural act.
AIR TRAFFIC: Ups and fedex reroute some flights to outside hubs.
Anchorage
Daily News
By JAMES HALPIN and
ELIZABETH BLUEMINK
(04/01/09 18:41:01)
Mount Redoubt continued blowing gas, steam and ash Wednesday as
officials worked on plans to forestall risks to the oil tanks at the
Drift River terminal, located in the volcano's shadow.
The Alaska Volcano Observatory reported continuing weak volcanic
tremors and with occasional small earthquakes taking place on the
stratovolcano about 100 miles southwest of Anchorage.
A continuous ash plume reaching about 14,000 feet above sea level was
being pushed by easterly winds that shifted in the afternoon. No
ashfall alerts were in effect, with most of the fallout taking place
near the volcano.
Scientists say the volcano could continue smoldering for days or weeks
before settling down. A dome appears to be forming from cooling lava in
Redoubt's crater and scientists were continuing to warn explosive
activity could continue.
"I would imagine we'll get some further large event," said geophysicist
and field engineer Cyrus Read. "I think the likelihood is that we will
in the form of a dome collapse."
The volcano has caused some significant snags for air traffic, although
Wednesday passenger flights appeared to mostly be moving as scheduled.
But some major cargo carriers were redirecting some of their traffic.
FedEx spokeswoman Sally Davenport said the company has cut back work
hours in Anchorage but all employees are still receiving their
paychecks. FedEx is still bringing cargo planes to Alaska for local
shipments but most of the cargo flights to and from Asia that land in
Anchorage are being routed through Oakland instead.
UPS has sent some of its Anchorage employees home without pay due to
the volcanic unrest but is bringing them back in when there are
packages to sort, said spokesman Michael Mangeot. UPS moved most of its
international cargo flights to temporary hubs in Portland, Seattle and
Honolulu but is still making deliveries to Anchorage.
Concern for the Drift River oil terminal also continued. There are 6
million gallons of oil currently stored in the river's floodplain, and
four workers were on site Wednesday clearing up mud and debris, paving
the way for larger crews to arrive, U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Sara
Francis said.
The area got a soaking after a large eruption March 23 launched a
mudslide, but a $20 million dike installed at the terminal after
Redoubt's last eruption in 1989 has so far held steady in protecting
the tanks and their contents from disaster.
A unified command consisting of the Alaska Department of Environmental
Conservation, the Coast Guard and Cook Inlet Pipeline Co. that was
established over the weekend to handle the response was still
developing plans for getting a tanker to the terminal dock, about a
mile offshore, to unload some of the oil, Francis said.
A Tesoro tanker was being eyed for the operation and officials were
trying to schedule a window for it to get there, she said.
Erupting Redoubt
dumps ash in Su Valley
Alaska Daily News
By GEORGE BRYSON, gbryson@adn.com
Published: March 23rd, 2009 08:19 AM Last Modified: March 23rd,
2009 09:13 AM
An erupting Mount Redoubt exploded again at 4:31 this morning -- its
fifth and strongest discharge yet -- sending an ash cloud to new
heights, the Alaska Volcano Observatory reported. Ash has now
been
detected at 60,000 feet above sea level, the National Weather Service
reported. Mid-level winds are still carrying the ash plume north
over
the Susitna Valley, and minor ash fall has been reported in Skwentna,
Willow, Trapper Creek and Talkeetna, according to the Weather Service,
the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and eyewitness reports.
High-elevation winds above 40,000 feet are beginning to veer toward
Anchorage, but no ash is expected to fall on Alaska's largest city at
this time, Bob Hopkins, meteorologist-in-charge at the National Weather
Service office in Anchorage said.
"Eight miles up -- that's going to stay there," Hopkins said. "But that
will affect aircraft at that altitude."
It's the lower-elevation winds -- between 10,000 and 20,000 feet,
currently blowing north by northeast -- that are most likely to carry
ash to the ground, Hopkins said. In the Su Valley, the ash fall
is
being described as fine gray dust.
"It's coming down," Rita Jackson, 56, said early this morning at a
24-hour grocery store in Willow. She slid her fingers across the hood
of her car through a dusting of ash.
She was taking a sip of coffee when she tasted something funny on her
lips, Jackson told The Associated Press. It was ash. She said she then
hurried home to get a motorcycle, snowmachine and vehicles under
protective blue tarps. Redoubt began erupting Sunday night, with
the
first explosion coming at 10:38 p.m., followed by another at 11:02
p.m., a third at 12:14 a.m. and a fourth at 1:39 a.m., the AVO
reported.
Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport remains open, although some
airlines have canceled or diverted flights. Alaska Airlines reported
canceling 19 flights in and out of Anchorage because of the ash.
Elmendorf Air Force Base reported that 60 planes, including fighter
jets, cargo aircraft and a 747 commercial plane, are being sheltered.
The base initially ordered only essential personnel to report for duty;
that was later changed to all personnel reporting at 8 a.m.
School is in session in Anchorage and the Mat-Su Borough. Mount
Redoubt, a 10,197-foot stratovolcano 100 miles southwest of Anchorage,
last erupted during a fourth-month period in 1989-90. Its recent period
of volcanic unrest began Jan. 25.
An official with the Federal Aviation Administration at the Anchorage
airport early Monday said there were no immediate plans to close the
airport. The Weather Service advised people in areas of ash fall
to
seal windows and doors, protect electronics and cover air intakes and
open water supplies as well as minimize driving.
The AVO staff also warned authorities at the Drift River Oil Terminal
-- on the western shore of Cook Inlet downriver from the volcano --
that mud flows and flooding from melting glaciers might be headed their
way. Cook Inlet Pipe Line Co., which operates the terminal, said
early
this morning that it had begun shutting the facility down.
At a 3 a.m. press conference today, John Powers of AVO said given the
hot material landing on snow, mud and snow slides could be expected and
staff would check the Drift River area at first light today.
Protective dikes have been constructed at the terminal since Redoubt
last erupted nearly 20 years ago. Powers also said -- looking at
the
history of Redoubt eruptions -- that this event could be expected to go
on for some time, even months. The eruption has apparently
disrupted
transmissions from the observatory's webcam inside a hut near the
volcano, AVO geophysicist Peter Cervelli said. For two hours
prior to
the eruption, AVO scientists reported heightened seismicity at Redoubt
and warned there could be a quick escalation to eruptive activity.
The volcano had been on orange "watch" status for most of Sunday after
activity began increasing Saturday, but was changed to red after the
first eruption.
STOCS
Board of
Selectmen, adding item
to agenda on April 24, 2008, approves application for "STOCS box"
grant. This stands for "statewide tactical on-scene communication
system." MOA (memorandum of agreement) between Town of Weston and
DEMHS approved.
CPR made easier: Hands on, mouth off
AMANDA CUDA acuda@ctpost.com
Article Last Updated: 04/08/2008 07:36:19 PM EDT
When Gloria Bindelglass teaches CPR, she sometimes runs into students
who are reticent about conventional methods of lifesaving — namely
putting their lips on those of a stranger, and breathing into said
stranger's mouth.
"They say 'Eww! I don't feel comfortable doing mouth-to-mouth," said
Bindelglass, a clinical nurse educator at Bridgeport Hospital.
In addition to the "ick" factor, she said, the procedure is tricky —
involving alternating compressing the victim's chest with breathing
into his or her mouth — and many worried that they would make a mistake.
Bindelglass urged students that, if they witnessed someone collapse
from cardiac arrest, they shouldn't stand idly by. But that didn't mean
they were obligated to do the dreaded mouth-to-mouth, either.
Instead, she encouraged them to just do the chest compression portion
of CPR. In this procedure, all that's required is to push hard and fast
on the center of the chest. And, of course, to call 911 for medical
assistance.
True, it's not quite as good as mouth-to-mouth, Bindelglass said, but
it's "better to do something than nothing."
The American Heart Association agrees. Last week, the association
announced that chest compressions alone, or hands-only CPR, can be used
to help someone who collapses from sudden cardiac arrest. Previously,
the heart association emphasized full, conventional CPR as the gold
standard of intervention, and recommended that bystanders only use
chest compressions alone if they were unable or unwilling to provide
breaths. Now, the association is revising its guidelines to put
hands-only CPR on par with the conventional method in cases where
someone has suddenly collapsed from cardiac arrest.
The heart association issued the statement about hands-only hoping to
increase the number of bystanders who respond to cardiac arrest
collapses. According to the association, about 310,000 adults in the
United States die each year from sudden cardiac arrest occurring
outside a hospital or emergency setting. Though receiving CPR can
double or triple someone's chance of surviving sudden cardiac arrest,
less than one third of out-of-hospital victims receive such help.
Some in the medical community, like Bindelglass, have long seen
hands-only as a good alternative. She said she's told many squeamish
students "if you do nothing else, do the compressions."
Even when not alternated with breaths, the chest compressions help to
pump blood to the heart and brain until medical personnel arrive to
administer further treatment. Not only that, but hands-only is simpler
than conventional CPR, easier to remember, and many judge it to be more
sanitary.
Locally, doctors, nurses and emergency personnel agreed that hands-only
is an easy, effective way to improve a person's chance of survival.
"I think it will help more people perform CPR," said Bill Shietinger,
general manager of American Medical Response of Bridgeport.
Like Bindelglass, Shietinger said many people are intimidated by
conventional CPR and, as a result, might just call emergency services
and do nothing else. He said once people are aware they have another
lifesaving option, they might be more willing to act.
"It's much easier to do the chest compressions than to have to worry
about breathing into the mouth as well," he said.
Nancy Cassella, advanced cardiac life support coordinator at the
Hospital of Saint Raphael in New Haven, agreed. "[Hands-only] is
simple," she said. "It's straightforward and it's not scary."
So when and how does one do hands-only CPR? Cassella said if someone
collapses in front of you, the first thing you do is tap on the
person's chest and shout loudly, to see if he or she responds. If the
person is unresponsive, then call 911, and begin the chest compressions
(at a rate of about 100 a minute) until help arrives.
Of course, conventional CPR is still the preferred method, especially
since there are some instances in which hands-only isn't advised, said
Dr. Frank Scifo, director of primary care development at St. Vincent's
Medical Center. For instance, hands-only shouldn't be used on children,
or someone whose cardiac arrest is brought on by drug overdose or a
near-drowning.
Though hands-only is an effective tool, conventional CPR is still
important, Scifo said. "Yes, [hands only] is better than nothing," he
said. "But there is still no substitute for conventional CPR."
------------------------------
Will
the FAA try
to relate latest air delays to this issue?
Airspace coalition elects officers to
oversee FAA lawsuit
Stamford ADVOCATE
By Wynne Parry
Published December 5 2007
The coalition of 14 towns aligned to fight the Federal
Aviation
Administration's proposal to reroute flights over Fairfield County has
elected its first officers.
The Alliance for Sensible Airspace Planning announced
yesterday it has
elected Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi as chairman. The
alliance also named Weston First Selectman Woody Bliss and Darien First
Selectwoman Evonne Klein as vice chairmen.
Former New Canaan First Selectwoman Judy Neville was
appointed chief
operating officer...for full story click here.
Weston studies
intersections
Weston FORUM
by PATRICIA GAY
Dec. 14, 2007
Acting Weston Police Chief John Troxell and John Conte, town engineer,
are assessing safety issues at two intersections — Lords Highway and
School Road, and Wells Hill and Kellogg Hill roads.
At a recent meeting of the Police Commission, the town’s traffic
authority, Mr. Conte recommended making the intersection of Lords
Highway and School Road a three-way stop, and adding improvements to
the sight line to make the intersection safer. It is heavily used at
certain times of the day because the town’s schools are on School Road.
However, Amy Sanborn, a resident of Old Hyde Road, which intersects
Lords Highway just east of School Road, said she was concerned about a
three-way stop and suggested putting cones down the middle of School
Road.
The commission voted to place a portable stop sign in the middle of
School Road.
Several days after the meeting, Chief Troxell said the portable stop
sign was installed as directed, but was knocked down three times in one
day and had to be removed.
“We are revisiting this issue. John Conte and I have watched traffic
flow through this intersection after the high school let out, and we
saw that drivers had to pull way out to the edge of the intersection in
order to see. The sight line has to be improved, and if we can clear a
tree that is blocking the intersection, that will help. The
intersection may also have to be widened,” Chief Troxell said.
Wells Hill and Kellogg Hill
Also under review is the potential placement of a stop sign at the
intersection of Wells Hill and Kellogg Hill Roads.
The intersection is currently a two-way stop. Mr. Conte presented a map
showing the horizontal/vertical alignment of the intersection. Because
the alignments do not meet the standards for safe stopping. Mr. Conte
suggested making it a three-way stop.
The commission approved the three-way stop, subject to Chief Troxell
having a discussion with the homeowner of 112 Wells Hill Road about the
town’s plan.
The new stop sign would be located at the end of the resident’s
driveway, and the resident’s mailbox might have to be moved, Chief
Troxell said.
He said he tried to notify the homeowner several times and has been
unsuccessful so far.
He said there is also a question as to whether the property is located
in Weston or Easton. “If the property is in Easton, Weston may not have
jurisdiction. No sign has been put up yet, and we are still looking
into this one,” Chief Troxell said.
Old Hyde Extension
In addition, the commission also reviewed the absence of speed limit
signs on Old Hyde Extension, which is partially a dirt road. “If there
are no speed limit signs posted, that means the speed limit is
automatically 25 miles per hour. On Old Hyde Extension that would be
way too fast,” Chief Troxell said.
He said a sharp S-curve and steep grades along the road make it
hazardous at fast speeds.
The commission voted to approve the installation of several 15 mile per
hour speed limit signs as well as signs saying “Unimproved Road Ahead,”
and “No Thru Trucks.”
“Those signs will be installed shortly,” Chief Troxell said.
G.I.S. related news...
Town buys
reverse 911 system
Greenwich TIME
By Martin B. Cassidy, Staff Writer
Published October 13 2007
A reverse 911 system will be ready for operation in Greenwich in about
a month, officials said yesterday.
The town has signed a two-year contract with Sherman Oaks, Calif.-based
NTI Group to provide the service, which will allow police, fire and
other town officials to share emergency information with residents
quickly, First Selectman Jim Lash said.
Once operational, the town will be able to use the system to send
voice, e-mail, and text messages to town residents during serious
emergencies such as floodingin Old Greenwich or Riverside, as well as a
range of other situations, such as heavy traffic, water main breaks or
police searches for missing people or criminal suspects, Lash said.
"The point is that this gives us another way to get information to
people in anticipation of problems or notify them after the fact of
what they should do," Lash said.
The NTI contract, which is for $58,500, will provide the town with a
system called Connect-CTY, which uses the Internet to dial and send the
messages rapidly, Town Emergency Management Operations Coordinator
Daniel Warzoha said.
The town will be able to specify distinct areas for any given message
to be sent by using maps in the town's geographical information system,
Warzoha said. That will allow efforts to be concentrated only in the
areas in which they are needed.
The system also can notify specific groups of people based on factors
other than geography, for example, contacting snow plow crews to
mobilize for road work, Warzoha said. That will help streamline town
operations. "Some of the simple beauty of the system is that instead of
a highway foreman having to call out and make 25 or 30 phone calls, the
system can make the calls for them," Warzoha said. "If we need
contractors to cut trees down during a storm, it's just one call."
Residents who don't want to receive updates will be able to have their
name removed from the company's database, Warzoha said.
In the next several weeks, NTI will begin publicizing the system to
Greenwich residents, offering residents a chance to submit their
e-mail, cellular phone, and other contact information. A directory of
landline telephone numbers will be inputted by the company.
Currently, the town has an e-mail-based notification system for
residents during emergencies, which individuals have to sign up for.
Greenwich Fire Chief Peter Siecienski said that, as Danbury fire chief,
he worked with the system that became popular with residents who seemed
to appreciate getting relevant and up-to-date information.
"Its obviously very good for major emergencies like heavy storm cells
and we found that actually the public was very much involved and
enjoyed that the town was actually caring to notify them," Siecienski
said. "There is a plethora of ways which you can use that system."
Thanks
to the 4 P.T.O. organizations...
P R E P
A R I N G F O R D I S A S T E R :
4 - P . T . O . - S P O N S O R E D M E E T I N
G A
T W . I . S . C A F E T O R I U M
News:
"Shelter in Place" still the
idea most favored (since 2005 similar LWV
meeting). Animals in Weston
to
have their own shelter (lessons learned from
Hurricane Katrina) as part of an evacuation plan. Click here "Safety & Preparedness
Store" items; for form to fill out and mail in the the Red
Cross click here.
Who's who: Either
from the speakers' table, the podium or just from the floor, everyone
spoke! See if you can identify some of the principle elements of
Weston's broad ranging Emergency Management effort...the big winner
is: woof, woof...
Woof!!! Pets!!!
Above is a Yellow Labrador Retriever (according to our research a year
or two ago, the most popular breed in town). The Town of Weston
is compiling the data and researching needs of pets, etc., and proper
place to "kennel" 4-legged family members during disaster
situation).
THE PRESENTATIONS...
WHO WAS THERE (l to r):
(Top row) Executive Director of the Westport-Weston Health District Sue
Jacozzi dropped in, seen speaking with First Selectman Woody Bliss
before the event; attending in the audience was
Petitioning
Selectman candidate Jim Maggio
(flanked by Fire Department/Dispatcher
Joe Abruzzi and Interim Police
Chief John Troxell), followed
by
Democrat candidate for First Selectman Gayle Weinstein, next to First
Selectman Bliss. Panel presents - Director of Emergency
Management Sgt. Mike Ferullo
draws on his vast experience including
Coast Guard rescue during Hurricane Katrina. Second row - Monica
Wheeler, RN, Community Health Director WWHD gave a dynamic talk
(Power
Point to become publication soon), backed up by the Red Cross!
Town of Weston
Social Worker Charlene Chiang-Hillman
at right, another vital player in
the effort to protect the fragile and helpless in an emergency.
THE RESPONDERS:
MEN (AND WOMEN--THERE ARE WOMEN ON THESE
FORCES) IN WHITE: Who would you like to see quickly in an
emergency at your house? Any of the above services!!! At
the left, Interim Police Chief John Troxell, center, representing the
Fire Department point of view (volunteers), Joe Abruzzi, and EMS
(volunteers) head John Weingarten (r.)
Q. AND A. - WWHD Monica Wheeler was dynamic and brought out the
audience and inspired merging of speakers and listeners until almost
everyone had something to contribute!
Answers from speakers - as questions came from the audience:
- First step? Have a "Go-Bag" with you at home, in the
car, at work (grab and go bag includes flashlight w/batteries,
emergency blanket, water, food bars, work gloves, N95 breathing mask,
rain poncho, eye goggles, whistle, detachable first aid kit, and person
supplies kit).
- How long? Be prepared to "shelter in place" for days
(quite a few). Lessons learned from previous storms;
audience suggestions and personal stories.
- It is overwhelming to think about...where to begin getting
prepared? Stock up on correct supplies and keep them up to date.
- What about critical records? One person in the
audience suggestred that she had made a CD of all these records (scan
in birth certificate, account numbers, names and contact info for
closest, family...etc.).
- The question that no one asked...so what was that "beep"
that kept going off? (Was it the smoke detector? Oops!)
Web-based views
of I-95
blocked for emergency workers
Stamford ADVOCATE
By Martin B. Cassidy, Staff
Writer
Article Launched: 10/27/2008
02:39:01 AM EDT
After pressing last year for
the state to move faster to provide video from Interstate 95 traffic
cameras to emergency workers, Fairfield County officials are holding up
work on the project.
Westport First Selectman
Gordon Joseloff said officials in the South Western Metropolitan
Planning Organization have not endorsed the project. They want fire and
police chiefs to review the design of the Web-based system to ensure
that they will be able to verify accident information and deploy
emergency workers accurately, he said.
"We've pushed to be included
as part of the process and that the fire chiefs and first responders be
part of the planning," said Joseloff, a member of the group.
The Metropolitan Planning
Organization for Fairfield County includes officials from Stamford,
Norwalk, Greenwich, Darien, New Canaan, Westport, Wilton and
Weston. In
Connecticut, the organizations must approve all transportation projects
using federal funds in their regions. Fire and police officials for years have
sought to tap into the state Department of Transportation's network of
more than 100 traffic cameras on I-95 to help them quickly determine
the right place to send firetrucks, ambulances and police cars during
emergencies.
DOT spokesman Kevin Nursick
said 13 of the 15 planning organization's in the state approved
installing the Web video system for first responders. Transportation officials are working with
the planning organizations in the remaining two geographical zones,
Nursick said. If
approved, the system could be completed in a year, allowing fire and
police departments to access the images through a secure Web site.
"The department has been
actively and vigorously working . . . to move this important and
potentially lifesaving project forward," Nursick said. "The department
stands ready to move this initiative forward and will continue to
diligently and urgently pursue access for first responders."
In July, Fairfield County
officials sought to speed the project by turning to Gov. M. Jodi Rell,
who ordered the DOT to work quickly to provide emergency responders
better access to the cameras. At the time, the DOT said it could
complete the work in 18 months, which some officials said was too long.
Fire chiefs and other public
safety planners in Fairfield County want to make sure the
state-designed system will provide high-quality images and help them
respond more accurately, said Norwalk Fire Chief Denis McCarthy,
regional director for the Connecticut Region 1 Emergency Management
Team.
"We have been involved in
discussion and then excluded from discussions, and where it is now, I
understand, is that we want participation in the system implementation
and design," McCarthy said.
Without the cameras, fire
departments and paramedics can be directed to the wrong stretch of
highway, delaying medical treatment to victims.
"Overcommitment of fire
department resources and misdirection of fire department resources to
the highway are the biggest problems," McCarthy said. "It costs
valuable moments but also contributes to traffic conditions on the
highway when the trucks are out there."
Public safety agencies now
may access images from the traffic cameras on the DOT's Web site, but
the feeds are blocked during accidents. Members of the South Central Regional
Council of Governments, which represents 15 cities from Milford to
Madison, is withholding approval of the project because of the economic
downturn.
"It's a lot of money when we
don't have sufficient funds to be doing all the roads and bridges,"
Wallingford Mayor William Dickinson Jr. said. "What I'd like to see is
money spent on the more elemental transportation projects like those,
and I have concerns about spending that money on this type of
information system in this economic climate."
Rell to DOT: Provide
access to I-95 cameras
Stamford ADVOCATE
By Brian Lockhart, Staff Writer
Published July 21 2007
Gov. M. Jodi Rell has directed the state Department of Transportation
to give emergency responders access to the 100 traffic cameras along
Interstate 95.
"I asked the DOT . . . to take every necessary step to provide access
as quickly as possible," Rell said in a statement yesterday. "Images
from the scene give first responders the information they need to plan
next steps and take the quickest possible action."
Rell's decision follows a request by the South Western Region's
Metropolitan Planning Organization, a panel of municipal leaders that
must approve DOT projects in lower Fairfield County.
The group said the DOT should used the planned $40 million overhaul of
the highway monitoring system as an opportunity to connect emergency
responders.
The cameras were first installed in the early 1990s and emergency
responders for years have pushed for live access as opposed to using
the DOT's Web site.
The Web site images are not always in "real time" and sometimes blacked
out for serious accidents.
Emergency personnel, including Stamford Fire Chief Robert McGrath and
Norwalk Fire Chief Denis McCarthy, last week told The Advocate they
need immediate access to the cameras to verify information called in
during an accident and respond to the right location.
The DOT initially said providing access to emergency workers could be
"cost-prohibitive" and restricted because the project is federally
funded.
Those issues still have to be addressed, DOT spokesman Judd Everhart
said yesterday.
"That's part of what we'll be looking at," he said. "But we're
committed to making it happen."
McGrath said he was "delighted" by the news.
"We don't have the details worked out as yet, but the governor's office
listened," he said. "It won't be abused, I can tell you that. It's just
so we can pinpoint locations and now what equipment to send. It will
decrease our response time."
McCarthy could not be reached for comment, but Norwalk Mayor Richard
Moccia said he is happy the DOT softened its initial opposition.
Moccia said if the state turns to municipalities to help cover any
additional costs, he hoped the money might come from the federal
Department of Homeland Security.
"If not we'll have to look in our own budget," he said.
Crashing by
design; Emergency workers hone skills during staged mass casualty drill
Weston FORUM
by SARAH COHLER
Jul 18, 2007
At first glance, what appeared to be a horiffic accident involving a
school bus full of kids and a tanker truck was actually a staged
emergency drill orchestrated by Weston’s EMS, Police, and Fire
Departments.
Those EMTs, police officers, and firemen who were not involved in
drafting the scenario were only told there would be a drill sometime on
Monday, July 17, but they were not given a specific time frame or made
aware of the details of the scene.
At about 6:30 p.m., the stage was set, and emergency workers were
dispatched to an “accident” at the intersection of Treadwell Lane and
Lords Highway East.
In the mock accident, an oil truck on Treadwell Lane had attempted to
make a left turn onto Lords Highway, but the turn was too wide and it
veered off the travel portion of the road and “T-boned” an oncoming
school bus.
Those involved in orchestrating the event wanted it to seem as
realistic as possible.
The oil truck was inched forward until it almost came into contact with
the side of the bus that had been pushed off the road at a 45-degree
angle.
Victims
Makeup and costuming added to the realism. According to Teresa Falbo, a
so-called “severely injured victim,” makeup provided by EMS took about
an hour to put on. “I don’t even know what they used on my face to make
it look like this,” she said.
“Some sort of stage makeup, I think.”
Each patient to-be was given a card with his name, age, and
physical symptoms.
Teresa’s card, which she had to memorize, told her that she, in
addition to neck injuries, couldn’t swallow. So the EMTs carried her
off the bus and laid her down on a back board and gave her a suction
tube to catch saliva.
Children screamed bitterly after the “impact.” The most virulent cries
— “Ow! My face!” and “Help me!” — could be heard a few hundred feet
down the road.
The police were the first on the scene. They gave a brief synopsis to
the firemen, who followed close behind, and EMTs, who were quick to
arrive after calls were made requesting more technicians.
Fire Captain Larry Roberts was very pleased with the response time. “In
the past,” he said, “our scenarios weren’t this elaborate. They were
purely procedural, but this has turned out very well.”
At its peak, there were more than 60 personnel directing traffic,
getting the kids off the bus and treating them. Each department worked
together to achieve a common goal. The whole scene played out so well,
it appeared to the unaware observer that it was either scripted or real.
Police directed traffic around the intersection and managed parking.
When responding to a real emergency, “Everyone takes his own car to the
site,” said Fire Chief John Pokorny. “Part of the drill is managing so
many cars in one place. On any given day, there is no one at the
firehouse. Dispatch coordinates who will go to the station and bring
the trucks.”
The EMTs separated the victims into three categories: Red, yellow, and
green.
The green — or stable — victims were taken from the bus first. They had
the ability to walk and sustained only minor injuries. They were
grouped together on a large red mat so that the serious and critical
cases could be dealt with more effectively on another mat.
Although the 12 stable victims by definition required less attention,
Nisan Eventoff, a treatment technician, would ask how they were feeling
whenever he had a spare breath.
“If you feel comfortable enough,” he said to one young girl with skin
abrasions on her cheek, “just stay in that position.”
The eight yellow-labeled patients, those in serious condition, shared a
large, red mat with the six critical, or red, kids on the bus.
Beth Low, an EMT treating critical patients, sat next to a prostrate
Michael Falbo, who looked as though he had a wooden rod protruding from
the right quadrant of his abdomen. Beth pretended to give him oxygen
and apologized for cutting his shirt open to get a better look at the
wound. The injury to the boy might have been staged, but the ripped
shirt will never be the same.
When she asked him how this happened, Mike mumbled something about a
science project. After about a minute of treatment, she shouted
“bleeding is controlled!” and moved on to nearby Carol Bucaro, who was
made up to look as if broken bones were protruding through her left arm.
One ‘casualty’
The driver of the school bus had “died” and the driver of the truck, a
diabetic, was “unconscious.” The bus driver’s body was covered with
yellow plastic, while the truck driver was seen to by at least three
emergency personnel at any given moment, giving him oxygen and checking
his vitals.
As firemen checked under both vehicles for fluids that could ignite a
fire or cause a hazardous situation, EMTs requested more personnel and
oxygen tanks over their walkie-talkies.
The most critical patients were given ambulance priority and were
shipped off to hospitals first. Dispatch had to coordinate with the
EMTs to ensure that hospitals had enough room. However, since this was
a drill, the victims were really dropped off around the corner instead
of several miles away in an emergency room.
“Sometimes,” said Chief Pokorny, “hospitals don’t even have enough room
for four patients, so we have to move people around.”
Mr. Eventoff, who assumed control of the EMTs on site, asked other
technicians, “Westport? Wilton? — OK, Westport,” trying to determine
where each patient should be transported.
“It is great local training,” Chief Pokorny said. “We’re not looking at
this on a regional scale. We just want to give everyone a chance to put
into practice what he’s learned over the last year.”
In addition to the two ambulances, a LifeStar helicopter was scheduled
to land nearby to help move patients from the site to nearby
hospitals. However, the helicopter had to respond to a legitimate call
and so was unable to make it to the drill.
“We don’t use helicopters very often. In the last 33 years I’ve worked
here, we’ve only called for one of the five or six available
helicopters in the area four times,” said the Fire Chief. “But when we
need them, they’re great. They can go to Yale New Haven Hospital in 10
minutes, while it would take over an hour to get there by car.”
Pleased
Both the chief and the captain of the Fire Department were pleased with
the result of their orchestrated mass injury. “From the time the call
was made to the last victim transported,” said Capt. Roberts, “the
whole thing took about an hour, which is great. That includes travel
time.”
Sandra Roberts, who played a witness, pointed out that everyone who
responded to the drill did so voluntarily. “People are eating dinner,
taking a shower; they’re in the middle of their lives when they get a
call. And look how quickly they responded,” she said.
Peter Roberts, son of the fire captain, was uncomfortable with all of
the face paint.
He thought that it was too realistic, so he along with his friend, Will
Laplaca, and his mother were witnesses to the event rather than victims
themselves.
Most of the volunteer victims were related to firemen, EMTs, or
policemen.
Teresa, who played the victim with neck injuries, said she was told
over dinner she had to pretend to get into a large-scale motor vehicle
accident. “My first reaction was, ‘Cool! Sounds like fun!’ And it was.”
Drills like this one are done every year around the same location.
Chief Pokorny explained that the roads “weren’t too narrow, there’s
lots of room for parking, and people who live on Treadwell, here, don’t
mind if we park on the edge of their lawn.”
Capt. Roberts said most of the learning comes from the critique after
the drill; all three departments discuss what could be improved next
time around.
“It’s a pretty open environment. Nobody’s scolding or being mean about
it. We all know it’s about learning,” he said.
I-95 traffic cameras may help first
responders
Ed Stannard and Associated Press, New Haven Register Metro Editor
7/17/07
A leader of a Fairfield County regional planning group believes the
cameras on Interstate 95 should be used to help towns' emergency
personnel assess traffic crashes.
A spokesman for the state Department of Transportation said Monday,
however, that the cameras were installed to help the DOT manage traffic
problems and aren't always helpful to firefighters and ambulance crews.
Weston First Selectman Woody Bliss, chairman of the South Western
Region Metropolitan Planning Organization, said lower Fairfield County
town officials are demanding more access to images and may oppose a $40
million state plan to replace the cameras in an upgrade.
"It's inexcusable that this traffic information is not available to
first responders in the towns," Bliss said. "It needs to be an integral
part of the design of the new cameras."
About 100 cameras provide state police and the DOT with views of
traffic jams, accidents and other highway problems and emergencies.
Feeds are monitored at DOT offices in Newington and state police Troop
G in Bridgeport. They can be seen at www.ct.gov/dot.
The still images, updated every five minutes, are available to anyone
with Web access. Norwalk Fire Chief Denis McCarthy said municipal
first responders need access to the images because information called
in during an accident is often incorrect. Kevin Nursick, a DOT
spokesman, said Monday the project is 90 percent paid for with Federal
Highway Administration money and changing their function would require
the agency's approval.
"The intent of these cameras is for incident management," Nursick said.
"They are designed and built and geared towards being used by DOT for
that specific purpose."
He said the "bottom line" for the DOT is to "keep traffic moving and to
get it moving as quickly as possible" while first responders may be
looking for a direct view of an accident. "What they are interested in
might not be what the DOT is interested in," Nursick said.
Judy Gott, executive director of the South Central Regional Council of
Governments, composed of mayors and first selectmen from Milford to
Wallingford to Madison, said the group gave its approval to the state's
upgrade plan in June. Gott said the COG's member towns are
working with the DOT to improve response to highway accidents.
McCarthy and Robert McGrath, chief of Stamford Fire and Rescue, said
the DOT feed is not in real time and that views of serious accidents
often are blacked out. Nursick said such blackouts are controlled
by state police so the public won't see seriously injured people. It
would require completely new infrastructure to give towns unblocked
direct feeds, he said.
"Money is going to be a big issue, and we're going to have to talk to
our federal partners" about whether money can be spent for that
purpose, Nursick said.
He said the DOT does have plans to upgrade the camera images.
"We are looking at the possibility of getting an RFP (request for
proposal) out by this fall to solicit service providers to essentially
set up Web sites with streaming video from all our cameras," Nursick
said. That would be in real time, versus periodically updated snapshots.
There are still issues to work out, however.
Rell announces FEMA aid possible
By PATRICK R.
LINSEY, Hour Staff Writer
June 15, 2007
REGION — Residents whose property was damaged in the April 15
nor'easter can apply for federal aid through procedures announced by
Gov. M. Jodi Rell Thursday.
Reversing a previous decision, the Federal Emergency Management Agency
announced Wednesday individuals will be able to seek relief for damage
sustained in the record-setting storm. Previously, FEMA had approved
aid only for state and municipal agencies.
"The storm that battered Connecticut in April caused some of the worst
damage our state has seen in two decades," Rell said. "This is very
welcome news for many people who have wondered whether they would be
left to their own devices to cope with water-damaged walls, ruined
carpets, and lost appliances, furniture and other goods."
Residents seeking aid should contact FEMA at (800) 621-3362. The phone
lines are open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Residents can
also apply for assistance on the Web at www.fema.gov.
Even residents who have already filed claims with local or state
government should contact FEMA, said Wayne Sandford, deputy
commissioner of the state Department of Emergency Management Agency.
"What'll happen is (FEMA will) actually send a team out to look at the
damage," Sandford said.
Whether picking up the phone or logging online, Rell advised residents
to have the following information handy to expedite the application
process:
* your current telephone number
* your address at the time of the disaster and the address where you
are now staying
* your Social Security number, if available
* a general list of damage and losses you suffered
* good directions to the property that was damaged
* if insured, your insurance policy number or the agent's and company's
name
* general financial information
After the April deluge, which dropped nearly eight inches of rain on
Norwalk, FEMA investigators toured Connecticut with state officials and
tallied more than $43 million in damage. Of that figure, more than $31
million was attributed to private property losses.
Residents in Fairfield, Hartford, Litchfield, Middlesex, New Haven, New
London and Windham counties are eligible for individual relief. Such
assistance could include temporary housing, grants and low-interest
loans for home repair and loans from the U.S. Small Business
Administration.
The city of Norwalk has also put procedures for making a FEMA
application on its Web site, www.norwalkct.org.
"The best thing (storm victims) can do right now is go to our Web site
and read the information that I put out and now the governor's put
out," said Norwalk Mayor Richard A. Moccia. "For those who don't have
Internet capability, if they want to call the mayor's office we'll
print it out for them and get it to them."
Moccia's office can be reached at 854-7701.
The April nor'easter shut down roads and train lines, knocked down
trees and snarled power lines across the state; more than 44,000
Connecticut customers lost power.
Declaration no help
for $31M in private loss
By PATRICK R. LINSEY, Hour
Staff Writer
May 12, 2007
NORWALK — President Bush signed a major disaster declaration Friday for
the record-setting nor'easter of April 15, qualifying the state and the
city for federal relief.
But there's a catch.
The declaration covers state and local government for costs incurred
due to the storm but not individual home and business owners whose
property was damaged.
The storm brought nearly 8 inches of rain to Norwalk, flooding roads
and homes in some neighborhoods. Its total, state-wide cost was
estimated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency at $43 million.
Gov. M. Jodi Rell thanked the president for signing the declaration,
noting the storm "was unlike anything we have seen in two decades or
more and its effects are still being felt."
However, Rell criticized the decision not to include state residents
individually. Federal disaster relief can include payments for repairs
and low-interest loans.
"Inspectors from (FEMA) counted more than $31 million in private losses
from the storm," Rell said. "What these homeowners need right now is
assistance in putting things right again in their own homes."
Norwalk Mayor Richard A. Moccia said the storm cost the city "several
hundred thousand dollars."
"We'll put our numbers together and apply to get some aid," Moccia
said. "But I'd like to see homeowners eligible to apply for some loans
and hopefully get some assistance."
So would Rell, who directed the state Department of Emergency
Management and Homeland Security to appeal Bush's decision not to
qualify individuals for relief.
Flooding has become a sensitive issue in Norwalk, with residents
reciting horror stories at council and committee meetings over the last
year.
The city has applied for federal funds to improve drainage in
oft-flooded neighborhoods like Buckingham Place, Lockwood Lane and
Olmstead Place. Residents on those streets say flooding has worsened in
recent years as Norwalk has become more developed.
Rell said the state must take steps to prevent heavy rains from causing
similar damage in the future. Norwalk has budgeted roughly $2 million
in its 2007-2008 capital and operating budgets for storm-water
management upgrades.
Fairfield county
declared disaster
CT POST
Article Last Updated: 05/12/2007 12:14:00 AM EDT
HARTFORD (AP) — President Bush on Friday has declared a disaster
designation for parts of Connecticut after a powerfull nor'easter
dumped as much 8 inches of rain in the state.
The disaster designation, sought by Gov. M. Jodi Rell and the
state's congressional delegation, makes Connecticut eligible for
federal funds, helping cover some of the $43 million in expenses
incurred by state and local governments and property owners from the
April 15 storm.
Federal emergency management officials said major disaster declaration
covered the damage and flooding done in Fairfield and Litchfield
counties. Additional areas could be declared disasters after further
damage assessments are completed.
Members of the Federal Emergency Management Agency arrived in the state
within days of the storm to evaluate the damage.
The storm damaged 179 businesses and more than 2,400 homes statewide,
state officials said. Government costs associated with the storm and
its aftermath total $12 million, and private losses stand at more than
$31.2 million.
The storm swamped state and local roads, flooded homes and basements,
damaged bridges and interrupting rail service on Danbury Metro North
line. More than 44,000 customers lost power.
Homeowners and renters could be eligible for grants and low-interest
loans, and businesses could also qualify for low-interest loans.
Not an
"emergency" according to Police Department website.
Cartbridge bridge replacement:
A long road lies ahead
FORUM
by PATRICIA GAY
May 9, 2007
The bridge on Cartbridge Road, which was severely damaged in the
recent nor’easter, is not going to be reopened anytime soon. “It may be
out of service for a year or more,” said First Selectman Woody Bliss.
According to Mr. Bliss, a report from a team of engineers —
including a diver who explored the bridge’s underpinnings — states the
bridge cannot be repaired and must be replaced.
“One of the DOT engineers said this is the worst damaged bridge
in the state,” Mr. Bliss said.
Flood waters from the Saugatuck River pummeled the bridge during
the storm on April 16, causing major erosion to the bridge’s abutment
supports. The bridge had previously sustained
damage
in the flood of 1955, but the abutments, which were filled with stone,
were not replaced at that time. Today, concrete is used for bridge
abutments, Mr. Bliss said.
The cost for replacing the bridge is estimated at around
$800,000, according to a flood damage reported submitted to the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) by police Sgt. Patrick Daubert, the
town’s emergency management director.
Time
But a worse problem for the town may be the length of
time it is going to take to replace the bridge.
“Because the bridge is in a federal flood plain, numerous
permits are needed from the Army Corps of Engineers, the state
Department of Environmental Protection, Department of Transportation,
and local authorities,” Mr. Bliss said.
“We are doing everything possible to accelerate the process, but
there is a lot of extra work involved,” he said.
The town is preparing a “request for proposal” to hire an
engineering firm to design the new bridge. Mr. Bliss said there could
be some issues with the design because the state may require the bridge
to be raised a few feet.
The closure of the Cartbridge Road bridge has also affected the
replacement of the bridge on Valley Forge Road, which was slated to
begin this summer. “The Valley Forge bridge is on hold. We can’t do it
right now because we can’t take two bridges out of service at the same
time,” Mr. Bliss said.
Traffic
With Cartbridge Road closed to through traffic, some
residents have noticed an increase in the number of vehicles traveling
on Lyons Plain Road and other roadways in the area.
In the FEMA report, Sgt. Daubert noted the significance of the
Cartbridge Road bridge as an important connector. “The bridge serves as
one of three primary ways to get to the east side of town. It is a main
thoroughfare used by commuters and emergency service responders to
travel from the east and west sides of the town. In order for emergency
service vehicles to respond, they must now travel to the extreme north
or south ends of town, utilizing the Davis Hill and River Road
bridges,” the report states.
William Sawch, a resident of Lyons Plain Road, said he hopes the
bridge on Cartbridge Road can be repaired quickly, in a similar fashion
to a highway ramp in California that was damaged in a tanker explosion.
The bidding process for that project moved quickly after Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger declared it an emergency.
“I hope our state and local government can prioritize this
beyond the slow pace that appears to be unfolding. If California can
replace portions of the Bay Bridge within days, one would think that
committed authorities in Connecticut could address Cartbridge in less
than the months and years that one hears from the bureaucrats,” Mr.
Sawch said.
Flood damage report
In the FEMA report, the roads in town listed as having
the most significant residential flooding from the nor’easter are
Valley Forge Road, Lyons Plain Road, Cartbridge Road, River View Road,
Old Orchard Road, Old Mill Road, and Slumber Corners.
Goodhill Road and Weston Road are listed as having significant
flooding to business establishments.
The report also includes the town’s storm expenses. The cost for
debris removal is listed at $1,740 for public works employees and
$4,892 for police and emergency management personnel. Other
expenses include $121 for fill, gravel and patchwork, $1,200 for
concrete barriers to protect the access to Cartbridge Road, and $1,500
for damage to parks and recreation facilities.
When added to the $800,000 estimate for the damage to the bridge
on Cartbridge Road, the town’s total municipal damage claim to FEMA is
$809,453.
Weston and other municipalities across the state are now waiting
to see if the state will be eligible for FEMA reimbursement.
Gov. M. Jodi Rell has asked FEMA to declare a major disaster in
Connecticut, which would make federal assistance available to
homeowners, businesses and municipalities affected by the nor’easter.
Cheryl Kitts, spokesperson for FEMA, said there were 10 teams in
Connecticut conducting the assessment through the state’s Emergency
Management Department. Five teams were responsible for calculating
costs of municipal damage and recovery, while the remaining teams were
conducting inspections of individual property claims.
“We work with the state as far as the numbers, and the state
determines if the numbers are beyond their ability,” Ms. Kitts said.
The state would use the figures gathered to then appeal for federal
assistance, she said, with any approved funds being sent to the state
to be passed on to the local towns.
Should the state be designated as eligible for federal aid, the
amount of reimbursement to Weston would depend on whether a “disaster”
or an “emergency” is declared. A “disaster” makes the town eligible for
a 100% reimbursement; an “emergency,” 75%.
Mr. Bliss said the town is not going to wait for FEMA funding to
move forward with the Cartbridge Road project.
“We’ll apply for relief if it is available, but we need to get
this process going now,” he said.
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT IN WESTON
At its May 4, 2006 meeting, Board of Selectmen designates Sgt. Pat
Daubert as Director of Emergency Management and Homeland Security
through the end of 2007. Sgt. Ferullo now in this position.
Status Quo Won't
Safely Restore Gulf Coast Communities
By Paul Farmer, FAICP
October 2006
As we embark on the second year of recovery following Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita, we see that everything — and nothing — has changed.
There are signs of progress along the Gulf Coast, much of it the result
of ongoing volunteer efforts, although it is proceeding at a slower
pace than we would like. We're also encouraged by announcements that
planning teams will work with neighborhoods in New Orleans.
On the other hand, literally tons of debris still must be cleared away,
a disheartening reminder that recovery is stalled whether because of
inertia, internal debate, distrust or other reasons. We're also
dismayed that questions linger about safety issues. These concerns cast
a cloud over commitments to reinvest and undermine incentives for
residents and businesses to return to their communities.
The current difficulties facing Gulf Coast towns and cities are stark
reminders that no community in America is safe from the devastation of
a natural disaster. Last November the American Planning Association,
American Institute of Architects, National Trust for Historic
Preservation, American Society of Civil Engineers, and American Society
of Landscape Architects outlined a set of principles and an action
agenda that can be used to guide Gulf Coast reconstruction.
This agenda serves not only as a foundation for restoring Gulf Coast
cities and towns, but also for preventing other U.S. communities from
undergoing something similar.
First and foremost, ad hoc decision making must be replaced with
serious strategies that manage risk and set high standards for
rebuilding. It means staffing up local governments' ability to plan, as
well as protect historic buildings and process building permits, not
relying on sole-source contractors or forming elite committees.
Second, reconstruction should be used as a catalyst to rebuild the
regional economy. Gathering a pool of local building tradespersons,
with traditional skills as well as new technologies, can help the
region take the lead in reconstruction and later export services to
other areas. Meeting the service and supply demands of this workforce
and their families also will spur growth of small businesses.
Third, transportation and infrastructure need to support neighborhood
densities and scale. We have great examples of green building and
efficient infrastructure that should be showcased in the Gulf Coast.
One example is the proposed light rail system for New Orleans, which
would support energy efficiency and more compact urban development on
higher ground that is less susceptible to future flood damage.
Fourth, there needs to be housing choice and opportunity. The mix of
incomes, housing styles, shapes and streets in New Orleans' historic
neighborhoods that existed before Katrina hit needs to be preserved.
We're encouraged that more than $15 billion in federal Community
Development Block Grants and emergency funding was approved this year
to help repair and rebuild housing and undertake long-term recovery
efforts. In addition, $40 million in preservation grants have been
approved for Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
Fifth, new construction must be based on local values and design while
protecting historic neighborhoods through remediation and, where
feasible, repair of existing homes and other buildings. Each street and
neighborhood in every Gulf Coast town and city has its own story. The
pattern and scale of streets, housing, shops, parks, public buildings
and gathering places are the vital elements of these stories. They work
together to create the look and feel of a community and must guide
preservation and rebuilding.
We don't need a one-size-fits-all approach to architecture. Restoration
needs to be based on meaningful input of residents and their leaders so
as to rebuild communities that are real and authentic, not pseudo
imitations of what existed before. Regional pattern books can be useful
if modified to meet local needs and conditions.
Sixth, the region's natural systems must be restored. Attention and
funds for this task are still missing. Without sound ecological
management in place, we are jeopardizing the region's long-term
economic health and safety.
Adopting these measures will help us restore and preserve the unique
character of New Orleans and other Gulf Coast communities provided they
are done with assurances that the hurricane protection system has been
rebuilt and residents are told about the risks of living in areas where
devastating hurricanes and flooding can occur.
Congress can help by passing the federal Safe Communities Act,
addressing disparities in offshore oil and gas revenues for Gulf
States, and establishing the Louisiana Recovery Corporation or similar
federal agency.
We should never repeat what Gulf Coast residents have and are still
having to go through to get their lives and livelihoods back in order.
By working together — engaged citizens and their leaders, community
officials and business interests, design professionals, state
governments and members of Congress — we can overcome the remaining
challenges and take steps that will benefit communities throughout the
country.
Paul Farmer,
FAICP, is the chief executive officer of the American Planning
Association. This commentary reflects the views of APA, American
Institute of Architects, National Trust for Historic Preservation,
American Society of Civil Engineers, and American Society of Landscape
Architects.
Officials: Disaster
preparedness starts with you
By JEANNE HOFF, Hour Staff Writer
June 16, 2006
WESTPORT — As the state Department
of Emergency Management and federal Department of Homeland Security
increasingly thrust responsibility for disaster preparedness onto
municipalities, town officials say self-sufficiency can be the
difference between life and death.
During a televised Citizen's Brown
Bag Luncheon Wednesday, First Selectman Gordon Joseloff, Weston First
Selectman Woody Bliss, Westport Fire Chief Chris Ackley, who is also
director of Westport Emergency Management, Police Chief Al Fiore,
Director of the Westport Weston Health District Sue Jacozzi and others
encouraged residents to be equipped to make it through the first 72
hours of a major emergency, such as an influenza outbreak, earthquake,
flood or terrorist attack, on their own.
"As the state Department of
Emergency Management pushes more responsibility down to the local
level, it's more important for us to maintain public preparedness,"
Ackley said. "More and more, it's up to the individual to be prepared."
In January the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services announced a $100 million emergency
appropriation to fund state and local governments' preparedness in case
of an influenza pandemic. Connecticut
is slated to receive roughly $1.3 million. Although the funds are
ear-marked for disaster preparedness drills and informationals, health
district medical examiner Dr. Stuart Steinman and Michele C. DeLuca of
the Mid-Fairfield County Chapter of the American Red Cross said the
best preparedness is self- preparedness.
A major factor in self-preparedness,
Steinman said, is routine vaccination. Across the globe, the World Health
Organization reports confirmed death cases of avian influenza A have
been on the rise. In
2003 there were three reported deaths; in 2006 that number has risen to
128 confirmed deaths. Citing
cases of avian flu, Steinman said people can prevent infection by
receiving basic flu shots, or a nasal flu vaccination and avian flu
vaccination annually.
Health officials believe the only
way avian flu can be transferred from birds to humans is if both
viruses simultaneously infect the body. DeLuca
said another factor of self-preparedness is making sure there is at
least one gallon of water, per day, on hand for each individual in the
household. DeLuca said
the American Red Cross suggests households have 72-hour emergency kits
available.
Although self-sufficiency is
encouraged, Jacozzi said, the health district, which will administer
flu shots in October and November, has been examining its mass
distribution and mass vaccination plans since the Sept. 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks.
"Since 9/11, the state Department of
Public Health gave us mandates to begin preparing for bioterrorism
events," she said. "We have developed a mass vaccination plan. After
9/11, we tested the plan and it works and we developed a mass
dispensing plan in April."
In April the district held a
Strategic National Stockpile Drill to measure how quickly antibiotics
could be distributed to the 54,000 residents of Westport, Weston and
Wilton in the event of a pandemic. Jacozzi said the drill was a success,
though the district is looking to "tighten up" its dispensing methods
by mid-summer.
The Red Cross advises
to prepare a disaster plan...
Norwich Bulletin
June 12, 2006
Assemble a disaster supplies kit
- Gather emergency supplies including: Emergency medications,
nonperishable food, a non-electric can opener, bottled water (at least
three gallons per day per person), a battery-powered radio, flashlight,
extra batteries, extra clothes, important documents, cash and credit
cards, a first aid kit and other items for infants, elderly or disabled
family members and pets.
-
Store supplies in a waterproof, easy-to-carry container, such as a
plastic tub with handles.
Prepare a personal evacuation plan
-
Identify an evacuation route ahead of time; discuss with family members.
-
If advised to evacuate, do so immediately.
-
In case of evacuation to an American Red Cross shelter, be sure to
bring the disaster supplies kit, medications, extra clothing, pillows
and blankets and other hygiene and comfort supplies.
-
Make advance preparations for pets so you can bring them with you when
you leave, but remember, due to health department regulations, pets
aren’t allowed in public shelters.
Prepare
for high winds
-
Measure windows and obtain shutters or cut plywood to cover each one.
-
Remove diseased and damaged tree limbs well before a storm strikes.
-
Strengthen garage doors with vertical support beams made from 2X4s and
“L” brackets. Get professional help if needed.
Helping
victims
-
You can help the victims of thousands of other disasters across the
country each year by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross
Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter,
food, counseling and other assistance to those in need.
-
Call 1-800-HELP NOW or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Contributions to the
Disaster Relief Fund may be sent to your local American Red Cross
chapter or to the American Red Cross, P. O. Box 37243, Washington, DC
20013.
-
Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting http://www.redcross.org/
— Source: American
Red Cross
Participants,
officials rate drill a success
Norwalk HOUR
By JEANNE HOF
FApril 20, 2006
REGION — Residents of Southwestern Fairfield
County, town officials and first responders participated Wednesday in a
Strategic National Stockpile Drill to measure how quickly antibiotics
could be distributed to 54,000 people in a pandemic.
The exercise coordinated by the Connecticut
Department of Public Health called upon 255 medical employees and
hundreds of locals from Southbury down to Greenwich to voluntarily
showcase their acting talents using Westport's Bedford Middle School,
at 88 North Ave., as their stage.
The drill required volunteers to act out a real
time scenario as if some sort of respiratory disease outbreak had
spread at New York and Boston sporting events attended by thousands of
Connecticut residents.
The middle school served as the Point of
dispensing clinic, where those who were exposed to the disease at the
sporting events had face-to-face contact with a possibly infected
individual or those who wanted assistance came for medical attention.
The inaugural drill — funded through a
bioterrorism grant — was one of seven drills occurring simultaneously
in New Britain, Milford, Groton, Plainfield, Glastonbury and Southbury.
Sue Jacozzi, of the Westport/Weston Health
District, Wilton First Selectman Bill Brennan, Westport First Selectman
Gordon Joseloff and Selectman Shelly Kassen, along with Weston First
Selectman Woody Bliss, agreed that Wednesday's trial run of the town's
emergency preparedness drill would allow them to ferret out any
problematic areas of the three-town mass dispensing and vaccination
plan that needed to be addressed.
"We want to make sure that we have a good
system in place," in case of a serious natural health emergency such as
an earthquake, flood, influenza outbreak or terrorist attack, Bliss
said.
New Canaan Fire Marshal Fred Baker and Westport
Fire Chief Chris Ackley said other than "logistical humps," such as the
time it took to set up the stations and open the facility for full
patient operation, the drill ran smoothly.
The setup snafu resulted in the center
welcoming patients at roughly 11:30 a.m., instead of 10 a.m. as
planned.
Westport Fire Inspector Nathaniel Gibbons said
regardless of the minor setback, he is now confident that had a real
outbreak occurred the POD would meet its goal of swift and efficient
48-hour medicine distribution to those in need.
"We had some logistical challenges. Any event
like this that requires virtually an overnight setup is going to have
those challenges but we overcame them and we started a little late but
ultimately medicine was delivered to those who needed it. So that's why
I am optimistic that in a real event it would work fairly well."
Once patients were screened at the triage on
the eastern entrance of the building, they were given yellow, green or
red post-diagnosis flags, which indicated the urgency of their need for
treatment.
From the triage, patients were directed to one
of several stations, which included areas for express dispensing, exit
review, weight calculation, dispensing, translation, first aid,
pharmacist assistance and even volunteer orientation.
Baker said more than 500 households had been
seen within the first hour, which surpassed their goal of slightly more
than 200 households an hour.
Furthermore, 19 residents who exhibited serious
symptoms were transported to area hospitals as they would have been had
there been a real pandemic.
A laboratory in the Department of Public Health
was said to have determined, after interviews with many patients, that
the outbreak was primary pneumonic plague, but the source of the
disease was not identified.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
will evaluate the state's performance of the Strategic National
Stockpile Drill and release how well each municipality executed the
exercise in two to three months.
However, Jacozzi said a joint Bioterrorism and
Planning Committee comprising officials from Westport, Weston and
Wilton will judge the town's specific performance and release that
information on one to two weeks.
Participants in Wednesday's event included
police chiefs Al Fiore of the Westport Police Department, Tony Land of
the Weston Police Department, Ed Kulhawik of the Wilton Police
Department and their employees along with the local EMS, Wilton Nursing
and Home Care, The American Red Cross, Sacred Heart University and
Fairfield University volunteers and the men and women of the Westport
Fire Department.
Tom Mahoney of the Greenwich Department of
Health said prior to an emergency situation, residents should gather
and keep information about their household such as weight and height of
each child, date of birth, allergies and any other medically pertinent
material.
Drill
tests regional disaster readiness
Norwalk HOUR
By JEANNE HOFF and ROBERT KOCH
April 19, 2006
REGION — Health officials will descend upon Westport today as part of
the Strategic National Stockpile Drill, in which Connecticut will test
its ability to distribute medicines swiftly and efficiently in the
event of an emergency.
Roughly 255 officials from Southbury down to Greenwich are expected to
participate in the emergency preparedness clinic from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
in the gymnasium of Westport's Bedford Middle School, 88 North Ave.,
along with 300 area residents acting as patients.
The Strategic National Stockpile contains large quantities of medicines
and medical supplies designed to assist the public in the event of a
public health emergency such as a flood, earthquake, terrorist attack
or influenza outbreak. The cache is intended to be used in instances in
which local supplies run out.
Today's exercise is one of several occurring simultaneously throughout
the state to familiarize residents and health agencies with their
municipalities' mass dispensing and vaccination plans in case of a
major disaster such as bio-terrorist attack or an outbreak of a deadly
infectious disease.
"This is a significant exercise in our continued efforts to
prepare for a serious national health emergency," said Gov. M. Jodi
Rell. "My expectation is that Connecticut will be the best prepared
state for any type of disaster or emergency."
Sue Jacozzi, director of the Westport /Weston Health District said
following 9/11, her district and the Wilton Health Department began
devising a method of efficient distribution of medicines to the 54,000
residents of Westport, Weston and Wilton.
"The purpose of the drill is to test the Westport, Weston and Wilton
mass dispensing plan and identify weaknesses and strengths," Jacozzi
said.
Bill Mooney, emergency response coordinator at the Norwalk Health
Department, said department staff and retired physicians and nurses
will participate in the distribution drill at Bedford Middle School. He
said the drill will be based on a mock plague sparked by bio-terrorism
incidents at sporting events in Boston and New York City, based on
information disclosed thus far.
Wednesday will mark the first time the towns will publicly test their
ability to distribute medicines effectively.
Similar health exercises, such as testing communication plans at
various hospitals such as the Norwalk Hospital began April 14.
However, today, Norwalk Hospital will test its ability to receive
federal stockpile medicines and treat its staff.
"We'll open our emergency operations center as well as our dispensing
clinic. We'll test our ability to put staff through that clinic in
timely fashion," said Lynda Nemeth, director of risk management
compliance and co-director for emergency management at Norwalk
Hospital. "If health care workers aren't healthy, they can't take care
of the public."
Westport First Selectman Gordon Joseloff said Westport volunteered to
serve as a point of distribution site for the drill because the town
has always prided itself on its proactively in being equipped for
natural or man made disasters.
The statewide exercise culminates today with the opening of seven
points of distribution points: New Britain, Milford, Groton,
Plainfield, Glastonbury, Westport and Southbury. Afterward, the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention afterward will evaluate
Connecticut's performance.
"Connecticut's planning efforts for incorporating the national
stockpile to address a health disaster have received excellent
reviews," Rell said. "Now we want to put those written plans into
action to determine what further refinements are needed."
State Developing
Radio Device To Link Emergency Disaster Workers
New London DAY
By PATRICIA DADDONA
Published on 1/9/2006
By this summer, an invention by six emergency officials from across the
state could enable their colleagues from different towns and agencies
to communicate over previously incompatible radio systems at the scene
of a disaster.
The inability to talk across systems has been one of the major
obstacles Homeland Security officials have been trying to overcome ever
since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Dubbed STOC, for
“on-Scene Tactical Operations Channel,” the device is a combined
receiver and radio in a box that can take a message transmitted on one
radio bandwidth and send it clearly and without interference to a
different bandwidth, said Wayne Sandford, deputy commissioner of the
state Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.
The state has set aside $2.1 million in Homeland Security funding for
the device, and has already obtained licenses from the Federal
Communications Commission, Sandford said.
Federal, state and local public safety agencies currently use many
different types of portable radios that operate on different
bandwidths. Those bandwidths — of 150, 400 or 800 megahertz — carry
different amounts of information and can transmit only to a radio using
the same bandwidth, Sandford said.
Police and fire officers carrying different types of radios often
cannot talk to one another at the scene of a disaster like the
InterRoyal mill fire in Plainfield in April or the Monsanto fire in
Stonington three years ago — both of which required mutual aid from
neighboring towns.
Now, the all-volunteer Interoperable Communications Workgroup, led by
Chairman Michael Varney, a fire chief in Ellington, has created a
device that can incorporate five frequencies into the three different
bandwidths. Varney is also an analyst in the state Department of
Information Technology.
Using parallel frequencies, a firefighter on a 150-MHz band radio can
send a message to a radio using a different bandwidth and be heard,
Varney and Sandford said.
What the STOC device will do, said Varney, is “add capacity to existing
radio systems and increase the number of agencies that can talk to one
another. This adds at least three different talking groups per incident
at basically no cost to the municipalities. This capability doesn't
exist today.”
By connecting public safety workers in the field, Varney said, STOC
“increases coordination, prevents delays, allows workers to get help
faster, and the incident runs safer. Knowing people can talk directly
to one another, there's no miscommunication. Communication is
immediate.”
For instance, if traffic were being redirected following a major oil
spill on the Gold Star Memorial Bridge over the Thames River, said
Nicholas DeLia, the fire chief in Groton City, STOC could take a
message from a radio in the hands of a Groton police officer and
transmit it to a radio used by a New London police officer.
“This is for the ground-level guys,” said DeLia, who is involved in
emergency planning in southeastern Connecticut, “the guys that are
shooting the foam, controlling the traffic.”
Sandford said, “The beauty of the device is, we don't have to buy more
radios, because (emergency officials on scene) use the radios they
already have. All they have to do is program the new frequencies into
their radios.”
The state's new device could become a model for the rest of the
country, Sandford said.
“We're the first state in the nation that the FCC has even heard from”
on this subject, he said. “If it works, and we think it will, the FCC
is going to promote this across the country.”
Last year, the state bought I-CALL/I-TAC radios for every town in the
state. Like STOC, the I-TAC allows direct communication, but special
radios had to be purchased and can only be used by commanders, not
emergency workers at the scene, state officials said.
The consequences of having firefighters, police and ambulance workers
on the scene who cannot talk directly to one another are profound, and
dangerous, as the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks made all too clear,
local emergency experts say.
Roger D. Sylvestre, chief of fire and emergency services for the
Mashantucket Pequots and a local leader in emergency planning for
southeastern Connecticut, said the state committee's invention could
prove critical in months to come.
“That's a really good deal if they can pull that off,” he said. “What
you wouldn't have happen is what happened at the World Trade Center,
where police knew something that firefighters didn't know. The police
could see into the building, that the structure was starting to fail,
but there was no method to communicate that readily to the firemen,”
who were trapped inside.
The device works only on portable, 3- to 5-watt radios. Using
low-powered radios within a quarter of a mile of one another prevents
interference, Sandford said. The devices could not be used to
link all fire, police and emergency medical officials at once, Varney
added. In fact, that would not be desirable, he said.
“You don't want too many people on one channel. Then there's not enough
air time,” he said.
Varney's committee members developed the idea for STOC from continuous
conversations about improvising techniques, Varney said. They then
built a model and demonstrated it could work. The state has issued an
informational request for proposals, and once it gets a workable
prototype, will put the concept out to bid, Sandford said.
“I don't know that one person (on the committee) had that ‘aha!'
moment,” said Varney. “It happened over time, came out of a lot of
conversations.”
The STOC device may eventually be used to link municipal emergency
workers to private security forces like those from Pfizer or Electric
Boat, Sylvestre said, and could help coordinate experts from various
agencies into a single team when special expertise is needed.
If development goes as planned, STOC devices could be in the hands of
local officials within six months, Sandford said. The state will have
to see how much a single device costs and then try to distribute them
equally across the state, so that all towns in all five of the state's
emergency zones have access to them, he said.
“Ideally, it would be nice to be able to have one of these in each
municipality,” said Varney.
ABOUT TOWN—November 17, 2005
by MARGARET WIRTENBERG
www.aboutweston.com
(Suggested title: “Emergency”)
“Emergency! Everyone to get from street!” This is one of my
favorite lines from the movies. Alan Arkin, playing a Soviet
submarine officer, barked out this order in “The Russians Are Coming,
the Russians Are Coming!”
At a League of Women Voters of Weston event on emergency preparedness,
at Weston Library last Saturday, that is basically what we were told to
do!
All invited speakers had a similar message. We were told about
how to remain “in-place.” The “in-place” option works for
Westonites. Instead of clogging local and state roads in an
attempt to “evacuate” during natural disasters, we should prepare for
being independent of modern conveniences for 72 hours.
The American Red Cross spoke of the need to be prepared. What
does that mean? What items should all Westonites make sure to
have on hand in an emergency? What are some tips on survival
“in-place?” Go to the Internet: www.redcross.org.
The Westport-Weston Health District took the lead in answering
questions about myriad health threats. This included discussion
of possible global pandemics.
Weston’s emergency management coordinator had a confidence-inspiring
“take charge” approach. Having returned from duty in New Orleans
he is up to date. He knows the need for and the “how to’s” of
coordinated emergency management.
First Selectman Woody Bliss moderated, and he was a vital source of
information. One statistic he offered was sobering. It is
necessary to maintain a 43 mile per hour speed to keep traffic flowing
on both I-95 and the Merritt Parkway. Evacuation scenarios via
those two arteries beggar the imagination. Since both highways
are at a standstill in the mornings anyway, we may need another
plan!
The message I took away from this vital League meeting was
simple. Each of us can do something to protect ourselves and the
community from disasters. Our regional health district is a good
place to turn. For more information on-line: www.wwhd.org
or telephone 227-9571.
Pre-Disaster Mitigation Plan
There is a bureaucratic version of the Boy Scout by-word. Instead
of “be prepared” the professionals call it something else.
“Pre-Disaster Mitigation” is the title. The Plan for our
eight-town Region, approved at the beginning of 2005 by the South
Western Regional Planning Agency (www.swrpa.org), says a few things we
can all try to remember.
First, the shoreline communities potentially experience the most and
the most severe incidents. Where does Weston rank? Count
the number of pages in the Plan devoted to descriptions of what town
departments do and hope to be able to do. Three communities are
brief. Weston, Wilton and New Canaan lie inland. Their
“pre-disaster mitigation plans” are each four pages long.
Westport and Greenwich are two communities that have a great deal to
say on this subject. Their responses were, respectively, 23 and
13 pages long. Stamford, Darien and Norwalk, shoreline towns as
well, were not quite as wordy.
SWRPA prepared this document in advance of the creation of a new State
Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security. The
DEMHS established five areas of regional cooperation for emergency
planning purposes.
“One Coast, One Region” is the way Congressman Christopher Shays
identifies cooperation among Stamford, Norwalk and Bridgeport in
economic development. Emergency planning will now be coordinated
along these same lines!
Florence
Strengthens Into Hurricane
Hartford Courant
By ELIZABETH ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer
8:35 AM EDT, September 10, 2006
HAMILTON, Bermuda -- Florence intensified into the second hurricane of
the Atlantic season Sunday as it headed for Bermuda, where residents
installed storm shutters and hauled their yachts onto beaches.
Florence was expected to reach the tiny British territory Monday,
according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. But was too early
to tell whether it will make a direct hit.
The storm was a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds near
80 mph with higher gusts. Florence was expected to become a Category 2
hurricane as it passes Bermuda, the hurricane center said.
The storm was expected to veer away from the U.S. coast as it turns
north toward Bermuda, but forecasters said its large size could also
create high surf and rip currents along parts of the eastern seaboard.
"Those waves will affect a good portion of the U.S. East Coast from
basically Florida all the way up to the Cape Cod area" starting Sunday
through the early part of next week, hurricane specialist Stacy Stewart
said. "When those large swells come rolling in to the coastline they
tend to produce dangerous and potentially deadly rip currents."
Bermuda issued a hurricane warning. The government urged its 65,000
residents to take precautions and volunteers were mobilized. The
hurricane center said tropical storm force winds could hit the North
Atlantic Island by Sunday afternoon.
"We are asking residents to please stay home. We are urging the
public's cooperation so that emergency vehicles will have free passage
on the roads," Derrick Burgess, minister of public safety, said at a
news conference. "Also, we are discouraging the public from sightseeing
as this puts everyone at risk."
He also encouraged the public to stock up on hurricane supplies and
secure their homes, lawn furniture and any other loose items which
could be affected by high winds.
At 8 a.m. EDT, the center of the hurricane was about 305 miles
south-southwest of Bermuda and was moving toward the north-northwest
near 15 mph.
The hurricane center said Bermuda was expected to get 5 to 8 inches of
rain, with up to 10 inches possible in some areas.
In boatyards and marinas in Bermuda -- a wealthy island chain 640 miles
east of the U.S. coast -- boat owners dragged their yachts onto beaches
or secured their moorings.
At Pitts Bay marina, Bermudian Alan Hughes moved his 17-foot Boston
Whaler away from the dock wall and tied it down.
"We are obviously concerned and cautious. It will be a tidal issue,
with up to five or six foot tidal swells," he said.
At the Fairmont Hamilton Princess, the hotel distributed a disaster
plan -- which included provisions for evacuation -- and told guests
that patio furniture would be removed from their rooms.
Roy Riggio, a 72-year-old volunteer counselor with Medicare from New
Canaan, Conn., said he and his wife, Barbara, arrived in Bermuda on
Friday.
As other guests at the Fairmont were leaving, Riggio said he didn't
believe the hurricane would deter him and his wife and he wanted a
"window seat" at the hotel's restaurant on Sunday night to watch the
storm.
"If not, I'm going to take pictures from my room -- I have a room up at
the top of the hotel -- and I want to get some photos. I'm not a
glutton for punishment, but it's exciting," he said.
Authorities said they were closing the island's only airport, Bermuda
International Airport. Flights from New York and Miami scheduled to
arrive late Saturday have been canceled.
Ferries stopped running Saturday afternoon and bus service was to end
Sunday at 1 p.m.. Authorities have opened a shelter in the island's
center, and the public utility has warned there may be power outages
due to the high winds.
Public schools and government offices will be closed Monday.
Acting Police Commissioner Roseanda Young said arrangements have been
made for tourists to leave after the airport shuts down, with
commercial airlines and private jets helping out.
"All tourists have been given the opportunity to leave. Those still
here have chosen to stay," she said.
Large ocean swells were affecting Bermuda and the northern coasts of
the Caribbean islands, including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin
Islands, the hurricane center said.
Bermuda requires newly built houses to withstand sustained winds of 110
mph. It also has a sturdy infrastructure with many of its power and
phone lines underground.
Hurricane Fabian killed four people when it struck in 2003 as the
strongest storm to hit Bermuda in 50 years. Fabian, a Category 3
hurricane with 120 mph winds, tore the roofs off several homes and left
many of Bermuda's famed golf courses in ruins.
Florence follows on the heels of Tropical Storm Ernesto, which was
briefly the season's first hurricane before weakening and drenching the
East Coast last week. The storm was blamed for nine deaths in the
United States and two in Haiti.
Remember Three Mile Island?
Pipe Leak at Nuclear Plant
Raises Concerns - seen any good, old
movies lately?
NYTIMES
By MATTHEW L. WALD
May 2, 2009
WASHINGTON — The discovery of water flowing across the
floor of a building at the Indian Point 2 nuclear plant in Buchanan,
N.Y., traced to a leak in a buried pipe, is stirring concern about the
plant’s underground pipes and those of other aging reactors across the
country.
A one-and-a-half-inch hole caused by corrosion allowed about
100,000 gallons of water to escape from the main system that keeps the
reactor cool immediately after any shutdown, according to nuclear
experts. The leak was discovered on Feb. 16, according to the plant’s
owner, Entergy Nuclear Northeast, a subsidiary of the Entergy
Corporation.
Entergy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission emphasized that
the Indian Point reactor could still have been shut down safely with
either of two other backup systems, although operators generally avoid
using both.
They also stressed that the supply pipe was quickly repaired
after the leak was found and that the water itself, which is cleaner
than tap water, posed no environmental threat. Yet the leak’s discovery
has prompted Entergy and the regulatory commission to begin studying
how the chief system for cooling during shutdowns, so important that
the Indian Point 2 has three pumps in place to do the same job, could
be endangered by the failure of a single part.
More broadly, it has raised concerns about the monitoring of
decades-old buried pipes at the nation’s nuclear plants, many of which
are applying for renewal of their operating licenses. Indian Point 2,
whose 40-year operating license expires in 2013, already faces harsh
criticism from New York State and county officials who want it shut
down.
This week Representative Edward J. Markey, the Massachusetts
Democrat who heads a House subcommittee on energy and the environment,
said the leak raised serious questions about Entergy’s and the
regulatory commission’s oversight.
“This leak may demonstrate a systemic failure of the licensee
and the commission to inspect critical buried pipes in a manner
sufficient to guarantee the public health and safety,” he wrote to the
commission’s chairman, Dale Klein in a letter on Thursday. The letter
was also signed by Representative John J. Hall, whose district includes
the plant. The congressmen said they were “shocked” that a leak that
big could develop without detection and called the system for detecting
such problems “profoundly inadequate.”
One argument raised by New York State in opposing extension of
the license of Indian Point 2 or the adjacent Indian Point 3 reactor is
that crucial components are aging in ways that the operators may not
anticipate or understand.
The supply pipe at issue, measuring eight inches in diameter, is
used to fill a 600,000-gallon tank that is used whenever the plant
“trips,” or shuts down because of an equipment malfunction. Such
shutdowns are not unusual; one occurred on April 3, roughly a month
after the pipe was fixed.
James F. Steets, a spokesman for Indian Point, said it was
unclear when the leak began. The company initially said the pipe was
losing 18 gallons a minute but later amended that to 12; either number
is small relative to the 600,000-gallon tank, he said.
Mr. Steets said that the water level in the tank offered no clue
that the supply pipe was leaking. The tank has an alarm to indicate its
water level is falling, he said, but it did not sound because an
automatic system was topping off the tank with purified water.
At a nuclear plant, a central water system takes heat from the
reactor in the form of steam and turns it into electricity. During a
shutdown at Indian Point 2, that system often turns off and a pipe
measuring 12 inches in diameter carries water from the tank into the
cooling system to carry off excess heat.
The buried portion of neither the 8-inch supply pipe nor the
12-inch pipe connecting the tank to the reactor cooling system has been
visually inspected since the reactor began operating in August, 1973,
according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Nor does the commission
require such inspections.
Paul Blanch, an electrical engineer and nuclear safety expert
who worked at Indian Point in 2001 and 2002, said that because neither
pipe has been inspected, except for a short section that was replaced
when the hole was located in February, “they shouldn’t be operating
right now.”
He said the plant could be operating with a backup system that
is ready to fail.
Mel Gray, a branch chief at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
who oversees inspections at Indian Point, confirmed in a telephone
interview that inspectors “have not dug up and laid eyes visually” on
the pipes. But he said that experts routinely conduct “surveillance
tests,” measuring the tank level and the flow through the pumps that
direct water from the tank to the reactor.
“If you had a gross leak, you’d detect its going somewhere
else,” he said, referring, for example, to a leak large enough to drain
the tank quickly.
Mr. Gray acknowledged that the 12-inch line that delivers water
from the 600,000 gallon tank during a shutdown might be rusted in
places, too, but he said it was unlikely to fail suddenly when called
upon. But Mr. Blanch warned that if gravel or dirt leaked into the
12-inch supply pipe when the pumps started up, that could make them
shut down.
Mr. Steets of Entergy said that if the tank were disabled, a
tank filled from Buchanan’s municipal water system could be used to
deliver water during a shutdown.
But Mr. Blanch and the letter from the two congressmen faulted
the system that relies on city water.
Plant operators dislike using such water because city tap water
is not as clean as reactor water. And critics point out that the system
is not safety-rated, meaning it is not certified to work in adverse
conditions like blackouts and earthquakes and is not maintained as
carefully.
Another potential solution proposed by the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission involves using the reactor’s emergency core cooling system
during a shutdown. But cooling water can only be inserted after
reducing the pressure in the reactor, which causes the water to boil.
Letting the water boil can lead to core damage.
Buried pipes are emerging as an endemic problem as reactors age,
although so far most of the attention has been to the substance that is
leaked — not a pipe’s role in ensuring the reactor’s safe operation
over all.
Reactor water includes tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen
that can occur naturally but is also made in reactors. Leaks of water
with tritium have been discovered in underground piping at the Byron,
Braidwood and Dresden twin-reactor plants in Illinois, and at a
three-unit plant in New Mexico, Palo Verde. Indian Point also leaked
water with tritium from its spent fuel pool in 2005.
While experts at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in
interviews that additional pipe leaks like the one found in February
would not pose a big challenge to reactor operators, they acknowledged
that it was something new.
“We were not aware of a problem before with underground pipe,”
Mr. Gray said. “Now that we have one, it’s got our focused attention.”
“We’re not done,” he said.
Earthplace to
release health report on reactor
Stamford ADVOCATE
By Patrick McNamee, Special Correspondent
Article Launched: 05/12/2008 01:00:00 AM EDT
Fairfield County may be nearly 50 miles from Indian Point nuclear power
plant in Buchanan, N.Y., but one group thinks that may not be far
enough.
The Radiation and Public Health Project is launching a campaign to
educate residents about possible dangers and plans a news conference
for tomorrow at Earthplace in Westport to discuss findings of its
latest health report.
The plant has been a source of controversy since it opened in 1974.
Entergy, which owns and operates it, has requested 20-year license
extensions for its two water-pressurized reactors that would allow one
to operate until 2033 and the other until 2035. A decision is expected
next year.
Joseph Mangano, a member of the Radiation and Public Health Project,
said the plant has caused health damage.
"There is a considerable body of evidence that nuclear reactors have
harmed residents from radioactive chemicals that are routinely released
in low doses from the reactors," Mangano said. "Our campaign is to
inform the public that there are health risks."
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has set up Emergency Planning Zones
that cover areas within 10 miles of a plant and a 50-mile radius, which
encompasses Fairfield County.
In an accident or meltdown, towns within 10 miles would have to shelter
and evacuate people and distribute potassium iodide pills to counter
the effects of radiation poisoning. Within 50 miles, radiation would
affect crops and reservoirs, so some food and water would be banned.
"There is nothing special about those 10 miles. It's not like there is
a magic lead wall," Mangano said. "We know that radioactivity can
travel hundreds of miles."
In an accident, radioactivity would be carried downwind and could reach
Fairfield County within two hours, he said. But even without a
meltdown, radiation can be in the air, reservoirs and food supply, he
said.
Scott Burnell, spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said
studies done by Entergy and the New York Department of Environmental
Quality, have shown no effect on people that live near the plant.
"Once you get into the distance between Indian Point and Connecticut,
there is no information to show there is any danger," Burnell said.
Emergency preparedness plans are reviewed routinely and protect people,
he said.
"Once outside the 10 miles, based on information available to the NRC,
anything that could happen is unlikely to have an immediate impact,"
Burnell said. "Certainly, there could be an effect on farms and water
supply up to 50 miles, but we feel the plans in place are sufficient."
Tomorrow, the Radiation and Public Health Project will release the
findings of The Tooth Fairy Project, in which they studied the level of
Strontium-90, a radioactive isotope, in baby teeth. They also will
discuss research on death rates for children and adolescents from
cancer.
"We're not trying to instill fear in people, but to keep them informed
of the dangers, and this is only one type of chemical and danger in the
air," Mangano said.
Entergy spokesman Jim Steets said the group is scaring people.
"This group is not a credible health agency, just a group with some
widely criticized health studies," Steets said. "I don't know their
point except to scare people into thinking there is some correlation
between health problems and Indian Point, which has not been proven."
Leaders are reserving judgment.
"We would be concerned and would hope to learn more about safeguards
that are in place for the surrounding population," Greenwich First
Selectman Peter Tesei said. "I am certainly pleased, however, that
there are people scrutinizing and looking into the information so that
we can learn more."
Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy had similar feelings.
"I think on issues like this, we follow the lead of our attorney
general," Malloy said. "We've gone through phases of this before where
we wanted to have (potassium iodide) tablets. It's important because it
is built in a densely populated area."
Mangano said he is not an energy analyst but he wants residents to
consider the findings before the decision is made on renewing Indian
Point's license.
"We would encourage citizens and leaders to use this information in the
debates about license extensions," he said. "This is an opportunity to
become involved in the public process."
Easton man's drug case continued
CT POST
DANIEL TEPFER
Article Last Updated: 06/03/2008 10:38:34 AM EDT
BRIDGEPORT — The drug case against an Easton man, whose home was the
target of a police raid last month that led to a visitor's death, was
continued today until later in the month.
Ronald Terebesi, whose Dogwood Drive home was raided May 18 by a
heavily armed police team, appeared briefly this morning in Superior
Court on Golden Hill Street.
He faces charges of possessing narcotics and drug paraphernalia, which
were lodged several days after the raid during which Gonzalo Guizan,
33, of Norwalk was fatally shot by officers.
Terebesi's case was continued to June 19 at the request of his lawyer,
Edward Murname, to allow the defense time for further investigation.
The continuance was granted by Judge Matthew Frechette.
Terebesi and his lawyer had no comment as they left the courtroom.
The raid and Guizan's death remain under investigation by State Police
and the State's Attorney's office.
A lawyer for Guizan's family has indicated they are considering filing
suit against authorities.
Easton resident in raid faces drug
charges
CT POST
AARON LEO
Article Last Updated: 05/24/2008 11:50:21 PM EDT
EASTON — Ronald A. Terebesi Jr. — whose home was raided by police last
Sunday, during which they fatally shot a guest at the house — was
arrested on drug charges Saturday afternoon.
Terebesi, 42, of 91 Dogwood Drive, is charged with possession of
narcotics, a felony, and possession of drug paraphernalia. He turned
himself in at the police station at 12:30 p.m. and was released on
$10,000 bond, police said. The warrant was issued Friday, police said.
He couldn't be reached for comment on Saturday.
Police and members of the Southwest Regional Emergency Response Team
had raided the home about 2:30 p.m. last Sunday, seizing two small
clear glass smoking pipes and crack cocaine in a tin box.
But officers entering the home were allegedly confronted by Gonzalo
Guizan, 33, of Norwalk, whom they shot to death.
The two officers involved in the shooting have been identified as Brian
Weir, who has eight years of experience on the Trumbull Police
Department, and Michael Sweeney, who has seven years of experience on
the Monroe Police Department.
The State Police and the State's Attorney's Office are investigating
the shooting to determine if it was justified.
Less than two weeks before the raid, the home's doors and windows were
riddled by gunfire during a mysterious drive-by attack.
Also, Terebesi had a loaded .357-caliber Magnum handgun when emergency
medical personnel were dispatched to a call at his house in March. And
while police had taken the gun from him, authorities feared he might
have acquired another loaded weapon before the raid, prompting Easton
Police Chief John Solomon to take precautions for officers' safety.
No guns were found in the house, sources have said.
Easton police said that evidence obtained in the Sunday raid was field
tested by state police; the test proved positive for narcotic
substances, police said.
Terebesi is slated to appear June 3 in Bridgeport Superior Court.
No guns found in raid that killed
Norwalk resident
Stamford ADVOCATE
By Daniel Tepfer
Article Launched: 05/20/2008 01:00:00 AM EDT
EASTON - The Dogwood Drive home where a Norwalk man was killed during a
police raid Sunday was the target of neighborhood complaints about loud
parties and cars coming and going late into the night.
And less than two weeks before the raid that also caused minor injuries
to homeowner Ronald Terebesi and two police officers, the home's doors
and windows were riddled by gunfire during a mysterious drive-by
attack. Terebesi, 42, had a loaded .357-caliber Magnum handgun
when emergency medical personnel were dispatched to his house in
March. And while police had taken the gun from him, authorities
feared he might have another loaded weapon Sunday.
So Police Chief John Solomon felt he had sufficient evidence to call
out the troops when his officers, joined by the Southwest Regional
Emergency Response Team, set out to execute a search warrant at the
house shortly before 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
Officers on the raid, some wearing bulletproof vests, armored helmets
and camouflage, surrounded the small gray house. They launched
concussion grenades into the dwelling to disorient the people inside
with bursts of noise and light. The raid turned violent when the
lead officers burst into the house and, according to the police report,
were confronted by Terebesi and Gonzalo Guizan, a 33-year-old Norwalk
resident.
Guizan allegedly charged the officers and "physically encountered two
of the police officers," according to the report.
The two officers - one of whom apparently shot Guizan - were identified
as Brian Weir, an eight-year veteran of the Trumbull Police Department,
and Michael Sweeney, a seven-year veteran of the Monroe Police
Department. Guizan, of 79 East Ave., Norwalk, was taken to St.
Vincent's Medical Center in Bridgeport, where he was pronounced
dead. State police investigating the shooting yesterday would not
identify the officer who fired the fatal shots. The officers and
Terebesi also were taken to St. Vincent's Medical Center for treatment
of minor injuries and later released.
Terebesi was not arrested Sunday, although investigators returned to
the house Monday to continue their search under authority of the
warrant. However, police apparently did not find any guns in the
house during a search after the raid. State Police are continuing
to investigate the shooting and will present their findings to State's
Attorney Jonathan Benedict. He will make the determination if the
evidence justifies the fatal shooting of Guizan.
Terebesi's lawyer, Gary Mastronardi, contended yesterday that neither
his client nor Guizan was doing anything wrong when the raid was
carried out.
"The whole thing stinks to high heaven, and we will be taking a closer
look at it," he said.
"Here you had two guys simply watching television when police throw in
grenades, and then come right through the door," Mastronardi said.
He said the two men had met at the home Sunday afternoon to discuss
setting up a local employment agency.
Guizan was scheduled to appear in state Superior Court in Norwalk on
Aug. 28 to face drunken-driving and drug charges. He was pulled over by
Norwalk police June 6 and charged with driving under the influence. A
search of the vehicle turned up a multi-colored glass pipe with
narcotics residue, according to police. He faced additional
charges of narcotics possession and use of drug paraphernalia.
Court records show Guizan had no previous criminal record.
Terebesi also has no prior criminal record. Last month, however, he was
charged with three counts of use and possession of drug
paraphernalia. That charge was lodged after an incident early
March 31, when Easton EMS and police were dispatched to Terebesi's home
in response to a call that a man was having a seizure, according to
court records.
When personnel arrived, they said they found Terebesi appeared to have
passed out on his living room couch. He looked as though he was under
the influence of alcohol or drugs and gave police permission to search
the home, according to the records. Police said they found pipe
stems, commonly used to smoke crack cocaine, under Terebesi's body,
along with a loaded .357-caliber Magnum handgun. Police seized the gun.
The drug paraphernalia charges were filed against him in April.
The police team that staged Sunday's raid, made up of officers from the
local departments in region, had encountered controversy before. Last
September, the squad shot Stratford resident John Bell in the arm
during a raid of a Bridgeport gas station, where they suspected an
illegal gambling operation was based. Officers said Bell fired at them
first, and they returned fire. The case is pending in federal
court.
Residents on Terebesi's street remained awe-struck yesterday at the
series of events that disturbed their peaceful neighborhood.
"I'm not very happy it's happening here. It's scary, people being
shot," said Fred Beitman, of Pond Road, who lives next door. "I have no
control over what happens in other people's houses."
Drew Clark, who lives across the street on Dogwood Drive, said,
"Yesterday, my wife and I heard a large crash and an explosion,
followed by five or six shots. We saw smoke coming out of the house.
"We came here to live to enjoy peace and quiet," he said. "Now, we hear
boom, boom, boom."
Clark said he and his wife, Sheila, were shocked to see police officers
in tactical gear when they walked down to the scene to find out what
happened. Fred Mauer, who lives up the street on Dogwood Drive,
said he was returning home on bicycle when he encountered the police
SWAT team and saw "someone getting loaded into an ambulance."
Norwalk man ID'd in Easton shooting
CT POST
STAFF REPORTS
Article Last Updated: 05/19/2008 02:17:19 PM EDT
EASTON — A 33-year-old Norwalk man has been identified today as the man
fatally shot during a police raid on a Dogwood Drive yesterday.
Gonzalo Guizan, of 79 East Ave., apartment 7, Norwalk, was killed
during a confrontation with officers trying to execute a
search-and-seizure warrant at 91 Dogwood Drive shortly before 2:30 p.m.
Sunday.
While state officials continue to investigate incident, sources
indicate that no guns were found in the home.
Ronald Terebesi, 42, the home's resident, was apparently injured during
the raid, although sources say he was not shot. His condition today is
not immediately known.
The squad of Easton officers and the Southwest Regional Emergency
Response Team battered its way into the Dogwood Drive house just before
2:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon.
Before the team entered, it apparently launched "flash bags" into the
house that set off loud noises to distract and confuse the home's
occupants.
When officers entered the house, according to State Police, they were
confronted by the two men. Guizan allegedly charged the officers and
"physically encountered two of the police officers," according to the
report.
The two officers were identified as Brian Weir an 8-year veteran of the
Trumbull Police Department, and Michael Sweeney, a 7-year veteran of
the Monroe Police Department.
Investigators have not released information on how many times Guizan
was shot or which officer shot him.
An autopsy on the dead man is scheduled to be conducted by the chief
state medical examiner. Terebesi's home was hit by gunfire May 7.
He had been arrested last month on three counts of possessing drug
paraphernalia.
The incident is being investigated by the State's Attorney's office and
the State Police.
Source: No guns at Easton raid site
CT POST
STAFF REPORTS
Article Last Updated: 05/19/2008 12:05:18 PM EDT
EASTON — While state officials this morning continue to investigate the
fatal police shooting of a person at a Dogwood Drive house yesterday,
sources indicate that no guns were found in the home.
The identity of the dead person had not been released by late morning,
but State Police indicate a more complete report on the incident may be
released later today.
Another occupant of the home injured during a confrontation with a
regional police squad, attempting to serve a warrant, apparently
remains hospitalized. None of the officers on the raid, two of whom
were initially reported to be injured, remain under treatment this
morning.
The squad of Easton officers and the Southwest Regional Emergency
Response Team battered its way into the house at 91 Dogwood Drive just
before 2:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon.
Before the team entered, it apparently launched "flash bags" into the
house that set off loud noises to distract and confuse the home's
occupants.
The home, which was occupied by Ronald Terebesi, 42, was hit by gunfire
May 7. Terebesi had been arrested last month on three counts of
possessing drug paraphernalia. It was not known as of this morning
whether Terebsi was the party killed or injured during the raid.
Police said the person killed during the raid had charged at officers
in a threatening manner.
The incident is being investigated by the State's Attorney's office and
the State Police.
1 dead, 3 hurt in Easton shooting
CT POST
KATE RAMUNNI
Article Last Updated: 05/18/2008 11:17:19 PM EDT
Click photo to enlargePolice leave the home on Dogwood Drive where a
person was... (Christian Abraham/Staff photographer
)«1234»EASTON — An
attempt to serve a search and seizure warrant at a Dogwood Drive home
went awry Sunday afternoon, leaving one person dead and shattering the
serenity of the usually quiet neighborhood.
At about 2:20 p.m. officers from the Easton Police Department and the Southwest
Regional Emergency Response Team arrived at the small gray ranch
at 91 Dogwood Drive to execute the warrant, according to Easton Police
Chief John Solomon.
"After the officers entered, shots were fired," Solomon said.
One person was killed and two Easton officers and another occupant of
the house were taken to the hospital for undisclosed injuries that were
not considered life-threatening, police said. Solomon also would
not confirm the identity of the person who died. The person was
fatally shot by a local police officer after the man
"charged the entry team and physically encountered two of the police
officers," State Police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance said. Specifics of
the confrontation, including whether the resident had a weapon, were
not disclosed.
Ronald A. Terebesi, 42, lived in the home. He was arrested on a warrant
April 12 on three counts of possession of drug paraphernalia after
police were called there March 31 on the report of a medical emergency.
Then on May 7, gunshots were fired through the windows of the house but
no one was hurt.
Police said they found shotgun rounds had been fired through the front
windows, rear door and kitchen window of the home when they responded
to a 911 call at 4:12 that morning. A red sedan with a loud muffler was
seen leaving the area after the shooting, police said. On Sunday
afternoon, residents gathered in the driveway of a home across from
Terebesi's and watched as officers from Monroe, Trumbull, Fairfield and
Easton, as well as the State Police Major Crime Squad, processed the
scene. About a half dozen young children played in the street in
front of the
police tape that cordoned off the area as their parents and neighbors
waited for news as to what had happened.
Dogwood Drive resident Gerry O'Brien said he was in the basement of his
home when he heard a loud noise.
"It sounded like a battering ram," he said. Other family members
thought they heard gunshots, he said.
"It was a little frightening," he said. Other neighbors said that a
team of about 10 officers in combat gear arrived at the house and
forced the door open. It was then that the shots rang out, they said.
Terebesi was not friendly with him or any of his neighbors, O'Brien
said. "We have a tight-knit homeowners association," he said, to which
Terebesi did not belong.
"He definitely kept different hours than the rest of us," he said,
adding that there were often late-night goings-on at the home.
The neighborhood association had scheduled a meeting for Sunday
afternoon, O'Brien said. They had requested a police officer attend to
address the problems at Terebesi's home, he said, but were told one
would not be available.
"They said they would be busy working on a case," he said. Sunday's
events didn't come as a complete surprise to neighbors, he said,
because of the past police activity at the house.
"If this represents a resolution to the problems there, then I feel
good about it," O'Brien said.
The Southwest Regional Emergency Response Team is a consortium of
officers from six neighboring police departments, each of which assigns
officers to the team, Solomon said. The case has been turned over to
the state police, Solomon said, because it involves a shooting in which
local police were involved. Vance on Sunday night declined to
release the identities of all involved, but said their names would be
made available today. The identities were being withheld Sunday
to give police time to notify their families, Vance said.
Easton police also declined to identify the two officers involved in
the incident.
Op-Ed Contributor
It’s Always the End of the World as We
Know It
By DENIS DUTTON
January 1, 2010
Christchurch, New Zealand
IT seems so distant, 1999. Bill Clinton had survived impeachment, his
popularity hardly dented, Sept. 11 was just another date and music fans
were enjoying a young singer named Britney Spears.
But there was a particular unease in the air. The so-called Y2K
problem, the inability of computers to read dates beyond 1999
threatened to turn Jan. 1, 2000 into a nightmare. The issue had first
been noticed by programmers in the 1950s, but had been ignored. As the
turn of the century loomed, though, it seemed that humankind faced a
litany of horrors.
Haywire navigation controls might cause aircraft to fall from the
skies. Electricity grids, water systems and telephone networks would be
knocked out, while nuclear power plants would be subject to meltdown.
Savings and pension accounts would be wiped out in a general bank
failure. A cascade of breakdowns in communication and commerce would
create vast shortages of food and medicine, which would, in turn,
produce riots, lawlessness and social collapse. Even worse, ICBMs might
rise from their silos unbidden, spreading death across the globe.
Y2K problems would not be limited to mainframe computers that governed
the information systems of the modern world, but were going to affect
millions of tiny computer chips found everywhere. Thanks to these wonky
microprocessors, elevators would die, G.P.S. devices would stop working
and dishwashers would dry the food onto the plates before trying to
rinse it off. Even ordinary cars might spontaneously accelerate to
fatal, uncontrollable speeds, with brakes failing to respond.
The Y2K catastrophe was promoted with increasing shrillness toward
century’s end: headlines proclaimed a “computer time bomb” or “a date
with disaster.” Vanity Fair’s January 1999 article “The Y2K Nightmare”
caught the sensationalist tone, claiming that “folly, greed and denial”
had “muffled two decades of warnings from technology experts.”
Among the most reviled of the Y2K deniers was Bill Gates, who not only
declared that Microsoft’s PCs would take the date turnover in stride,
but had the audacity to blame those who “love to tell tales of fear”
for the worldwide anxiety. Mr. Gates’s denialism was ignored as
governments and corporations set in place immensely expensive schemes
to immunize systems against the Y2K bug.
They weren’t the only ones keen to get in on the end-time spirit. The
Rev. Jerry Falwell suggested that Y2K would be the confirmation of
Christian prophecy, “God’s instrument to shake this nation, to humble
this nation.” The Y2K crisis might incite a worldwide revival that
would lead to “the rapture of the church.” Along with many
survivalists, Mr. Falwell advised stocking up on food and guns.
So the scene was set here in New Zealand for midnight on Dec. 31, 1999.
We are just west of the dateline, and thus would be the first to
experience not only popping Champagne corks and fireworks, but the Y2K
catastrophe, if any. As clocks hit midnight, Champagne and skyrockets
were the only explosions of interest, since telephones, ATMs, cars,
computers and airplanes worked just fine. The head of the government’s
Y2K Readiness Commission declared victory: “New Zealand’s investment in
planning and preparation has paid off.”
Confident that our millions were well spent, we waited for news of the
calamities sure to hit countries that had ignored Y2K. Asia, a Deutsche
Bank official had predicted, was going to be “burnt toast” on New
Year’s Day — not just the lesser-developed areas of Vietnam and China,
but South Korea, which by 1999 was a highly computer-dependent society.
South Korea, one computer expert told me, had a national telephone
system similar to British Telecom’s. But where the British had wisely
sunk millions of pounds into Y2K remediation, South Korea had done next
to nothing.
However, exactly 10 years ago today, as the date change moved on
through the Far East, India, Russia, the Middle East and Europe, it
became apparent that it made little difference whether you lived in
Britain, which at great expense had revamped many of its computer
systems, or the lackadaisical Ukraine, which had ignored the issue.
With minor glitches that would have gone unnoticed any other day of the
week, the world kept ticking on. It must have been galling for
computer-conscientious Germans to observe how life continued its
pleasurable path for feckless Italians, who had generally paid no
attention to Y2K. There were problems, to be sure: in Australia, a
bus-ticket machine stamped the wrong date, while in Britain a tide
gauge in Portsmouth Harbor failed. Still, the South Korean phone system
came through unscathed.
By the time midnight reached the United States, where upward of $100
billion had been spent on Y2K fixes, there was little anxiety. Indeed,
the general health of American information systems, fixed and not,
became clearer in the new year. The Small Business Administration
calculated that 1.5 million businesses had undertaken no Y2K
remediation. On Jan. 3, it received about 40 phone calls from
businesses that had experienced minor faults, like cash registers that
misread the year “2000” as “1900” (which seemed everywhere the single
most common error caused by Y2K).
KNOWING our computers is difficult enough. Harder still is to know
ourselves, including our inner demons. From today’s perspective, the
Y2K fiasco seems to be less about technology than about a morbid
fascination with end-of-the-world scenarios. This ought to strike us as
strange. The cold war was fading in 1999, we were witnessing a
worldwide growth in wealth and standards of living, and Islamic
terrorism was not yet seen as a serious global threat. It should have
been a year of golden weather, a time for the human race to relax and
look toward a brighter, more peaceful future. Instead, with computers
as a flimsy pretext, many seemed to take pleasure in frightening
themselves to death over a coming calamity.
No doubt part of the blame must go to those consultants who took
businesses and governments for an expensive ride in the lead-up to New
Year’s Day. But doom-laden exaggerations about Y2K fell on ears that
were all-too receptive. The Y2K fiasco was about more than simple
prudence.
Religions from Zoroastrianism to Judaism to Christianity to U.F.O.
cults have been built around notions of sin and the world’s end. The
Y2K threat resonated with those ideas. Human beings have constructed an
enormous, wasteful, unnatural civilization, filled with sin — or, worse
in some minds, pollution and environmental waste. Suppose it turned out
that a couple of zeros inadvertently left off old computer codes
brought crashing down the very civilization computers helped to create.
Cosmic justice!
The theme of our fancy inventions ultimately destroying us has been a
favorite in fiction at least since Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein.” We
can place alongside this a continuous succession of spectacular films
built on visions of the end of the world. Such end-time fantasies must
have a profound, persistent appeal in order to keep drawing wide-eyed
crowds into movie theaters, as historically they have drawn crowds into
churches, year after year.
Apocalyptic scenarios are a diversion from real problems — poverty,
terrorism, broken financial systems — needing intelligent attention.
Even something as down-to-earth as the swine-flu scare has seemed at
moments to be less about testing our health care system and its
emergency readiness than about the fate of a diseased civilization
drowning in its own fluids. We wallow in the idea that one day
everything might change in, as St. Paul put it, the “twinkling of an
eye” — that a calamity might prove to be the longed-for transformation.
But turning practical problems into cosmic cataclysms takes us further
away from actual solutions.
This applies, in my view, to the towering seas, storms, droughts and
mass extinctions of popular climate catastrophism. Such entertaining
visions owe less to scientific climatology than to eschatology, and
that familiar sense that modernity and its wasteful comforts are
bringing us closer to a biblical day of judgment. As that headline put
it for Y2K, predictions of the end of the world are often intertwined
with condemnations of human “folly, greed and denial.” Repent and
recycle!
