Published: July 07, 2008 04:32 pm         

Emergency personnel respond to 'dirty bomb'

County weigh station hosts mock disaster

At the northbound weigh station on Inter-state 75 last week, it wasn’t a matter of if, but when the alarm would sound.

The alarm, which rings when sensors detect evidence of radiation on a tractor-trailer truck, picked up evidence of a dirty bomb being hauled through the station near the 32 mile marker.

At the sound of the alarm, law enforcement and emergency personnel responded, isolating the driver from his cell phone and other communication devices that could detonate a bomb, ensuring the driver remained in custody and taking appropriate action to ensure any contamination from the bomb was contained.

Officials overseeing the operation, which began at 9 a.m. and ended with a debriefing at about 4 p.m, said the officers and emergency personnel did exactly what they were supposed to do if this scenario was a reality.

“Everyone involved did an excellent job," said Cpt. David Marcum, Kentucky Vehicle Enforce-ment regional command-er.

In addition to officers from KVE, personnel from the Kentucky Department of Public Health’s Radiation Health Branch, FBI, Region 11 HazMat, Kentucky Office of Homeland Security and U.S. Department of Homeland Security participated in the exercise.

"Everything worked very well," said Mary Pedersen, chief information officer for the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security. "We are ahead of the game in the development of protocol to deal with this type of situation."

Officials said Kentucky has similar detectors at the weigh stations located at other entry points to the state and a mobile unit in Frankfort, though the Laurel County facility was the first to receive the equipment.

The detection equipment was purchased through the Department of Homeland Security, with Kentucky the first state to receive it. Marcum said the alarm at the Laurel County weigh station has sounded several times since the equipment was installed in 2005, but the situations were resolved without incident.

KVE Sgt. Brian Jackson said this is the first major training exercise of this type in the region, which is made up of Kentucky and eight other states in the southeast.

A regional training exercise is planned for the fall, though details about when and where were not available at this time.



"They (other states) are watching us and molding their policies based on us," Pedersen said.