Another 23 tall poles rigged with powerful sirens and solar panels are sprouting up around the Army's chemical warfare incinerator in Tooele County.
In addition, nine electronic message boards have been installed on road sides, where they can alert motorists to danger. The $1.5 million projects are funded by the federal government's Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program.
"We felt it was necessary to expand the emergency notification capabilities, with the population growth and increased recreational use in the county," said Wade Mathews, public information officer for Tooele County Emergency Management.
Not only will the poles' loudspeakers warn of any mishap at the incinerator, but they're capable of blaring alerts about dangerous weather, floods, earthquakes and other potential disasters. The system uses recorded voice warnings and sirens and is capable of carrying live messages.
Before this effort, 37 poles ringed the site. Tooele County officials say they only met minimum requirements for notifying the public of a toxic cloud or other hazard.
The preparedness program, sponsored by the Army and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is paying about $1.2 million to upgrade the sirens and $300,000 for the electronic highway signs. The cost includes the devices and software improvements.
New 45-foot poles are either installed or planned for the Tooele County areas of Grantsville, Stansbury, Erda and Pine Canyon. Several sites that already have sirens — Tooele, Rush Valley and Cedar Valley in Utah County — will receive more.
Most of the 23 poles are up, but "we're still in the process of putting in a few more," Mathews said. "We're still working out some locations for some of them." The new poles won't be operational until all are installed and tested.
After the chemical weapons are destroyed, Mathews says, the warning system will remain. "We will still have a high level of preparedness for emergencies," he said.
Meanwhile, the system is tested every Wednesday at 4 p.m. Residents don't find the sound bothersome, he said.
In scouting locations for poles, Mathews added, "Everyone I spoke to was positive. They were excited to have the protection there."
Technicians are testing the highway signs, which are already installed. They should be working by the end of February, and they, too, can warn of all types of hazards.
The $1 billion incinerator has been shut down since a worker was exposed to residue of the deadly sarin nerve agent (GB) July 15, 2002. Medical exams showed he and another employee in the same area were not harmed. But the incident exposed weaknesses in the plant, and government officials ordered corrections.
Since then, in addition to the ordered changes, incinerator officials have worked to switch the plant from destroying sarin to burning the more toxic nerve agent VX.
According to the Army's Program Manager for Chemical Demilitarization, the GB stockpile at Deseret Chemical Depot has been eliminated. GB constituted 44 percent of the chemical agent and 81 percent of the munitions stored at Tooele, which was the country's largest stockpile of such weapons.
Although VX is hideously toxic — a tiny drop on the skin can kill — its oily consistency should prevent wind from carrying it far, should any escape the plant, say county officials.
Crews are training for the VX campaign and double-checking systems, said Chuck Sprague, spokesman for Deseret Chemical Depot, which hosts the incinerator.
"Right now the schedule holds us to be starting VX in mid-February," he said. The exact date has not been set.
E-mail: bau@desnews.com