HEBER CITY — Before Sept. 11 most people snickered at those shelling out thousands of dollars for backyard bomb shelters.
The bomb shelter builders — like those inclined to stashing survival supplies in their basements — were viewed as doomsday extremists. But terrorism has shattered some stereotypes and made emergency preparedness almost routine.
"Last year I was a right-wing, radical nut. After 9/11, I'm a hero. I'm mainstream now," said Sharon Packer, a Heber City resident and co-owner of Utah Shelter Systems Inc., a company specializing in bomb shelters.
That mainstream acceptance has spread as television networks and newspapers, including the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune and Miami Herald, have interviewed Packer and others promoting preparedness. In addition to the media blitz, continued fear over future terrorist attacks has kept interest high in preparing for a worst-case scenario.
"People used to portray me as the weirdo," said Harry Weyandt, founder and president of Nitro-Pak Preparedness Center Inc., a Heber City-based survival-supply business. "A lot of my customers feel vindicated. I had several customers call up and say, 'All of my neighbors want catalogs.' "
People today aren't hoarding gas masks as in the weeks following the Sept. 11 attacks. However, sales of emergency supplies and bomb shelters continue to outpace pre-attack numbers, even if the growing distance from that shock has cooled some business.
In the months following September, Utah Shelter Systems witnessed a 500 percent to 600 percent increase in sales of its shelters, which average in price around $33,000, about the same cost as an in-ground swimming pool.
In fact, sales in some months topped 12 to 14 shelters. Today, sales have fallen off to an average of two shelters a month, still double the sales of a year ago, Packer said.
"Obviously right after 9/11 we had a major spike in business that lasted to the end of the year, and then things settled way back down. We are back to what I would call a normal market, not strong or weak," said David Sheets, president and founder of Emergency Essentials, an Orem-based food storage company.
Weyandt agrees, calling the last four months of 2001 a "mini-Y2K" market.
"Sales probably went up six to eight times of what they had been earlier in 2001," Weyandt said. "But, boy, it's been still a struggle."
All agree that sales now are better than a year ago.
"It's not as slow as it was before 9/11, but it has tapered way back off," Sheets said. "It's nothing like it was as the build up to Y2K."
Packer, who holds a master's degree in nuclear engineering from the University of Utah, says her phone rings continuously. She receives roughly 50 e-mails a day inquiring about her shelters. Most of her customers are in Florida, New York, North Carolina, Texas and the West Coast states — California, Oregon and Washington.
"I'm having people calling me from India. They said they saw me on CNN," Packer said, adding that before Sept. 11 building bomb shelters was a part-time hobby, but it fast became a full-time job after a flurry of media attention.
The bomb shelters, made from corrugated steel, generally take six to eight weeks to install. Most of the manufacturing and installation process is contracted out.
"Back in the 1940s and '50s, the U.S. government tested corrugated steel pipe shelters at the Nevada test site, and they exposed them to direct effects of nuclear explosions. The corrugated steel shelters are still there. They survived quite nicely," said Paul Seyfried, co-owner of Utah Shelter Systems.
Seyfried, who lives in West Jordan, said his bomb shelters will not only protect against the extreme blast pressures of a nuclear device but can also be outfitted with Swiss-made air-filtration systems that will shield occupants from biological and chemical contaminants.
For those who can't afford a hardened shelter, a safe room may be a less expensive option, capable of protecting against biological and chemical weapons, Seyfried said. Air-filtration systems cost around $5,000.
Scott Behunin, director of Utah's Emergency Services and Homeland Security agency, said people should keep it simple when preparing against terrorism by drafting a family plan and keeping a portable 72-hour kit for each family member.
"You never know what is going to hit. Is it going to be an earthquake? Is it going to be a chemical release of some kind? Make sure you have a simple plan with your family to respond accordingly," Behunin said. "Some people believe they need more protection. If it's my choice to have a shelter in my back yard or wherever, then feel free to do that. If you feel like you need gas masks, then go get gas masks."
Yet Seyfried believes 72-hour kits aren't enough with the current threats the United States faces and points to Switzerland, where underground shelters are common.
"Before 9/11 people who had shelters were 'kooky,' " he said. "If I were transplanted to Switzerland, I would fade into the background. Nobody calls the Swiss 'kooky.' "
Behunin is careful not to be critical of those building bomb shelters in their back yards, referring to the early Cold War years when fallout shelters in the United States were viewed as protection against an attack by the Soviet Union.
"You know it's an individual choice. It's whatever that individual feels is going to make them feel comfortable with their environment."
And whether it's a 72-hour kit, food storage or an expensive bomb shelter, Weyandt said preparedness is really just another form of insurance.
"It's not left-wing or right-wing to prepare. It just makes common sense. We want safety for our families, and this is just a different form of insurance," Weyandt said.
Perhaps Seyfried's T-shirt sums it up best: "I have a shelter. If you see me running, try to keep up."
E-mail: danderton@desnews.com