Eastside fire crews practice for terrorist assault

About 50 firefighters from seven Eastside fire departments engaged in a deadly serious exercise Thursday — practicing for a terrorist attack at a plant where lethal chemicals are used.

The drill took place at Romac Industries in the Canyon Park area, where the company uses about 3 million pounds of stainless steel every year to make industrial pipe fittings.

The setting was an "acid room" where dangerous chemicals powerful enough to dissolve skin are commonly used. Inside the room, awaiting the firefighters, was a mix of challenges: two workers supposedly injured by a disgruntled ex-employee, chemical spills and improvised explosive devices, or IEDs.

No one found all the hazards, but that was the point.

"Nobody ... said anything about this backpack, and it had a bomb in it," Bothell firefighter Hugh Moag said as he led a tour of the plant after the exercise. "That's the key thing in dealing with terrorists: The rules change."

The drill was the first since 2001 set up specifically to deal with IEDs, and the lesson was to develop an awareness of going beyond firefighters' usual focus on rescuing people, Moag said.

The exercises are periodically conducted by the hazardous-materials team, which dates to 1982.

The team has the latest in technology, with much of Thursday's session spent learning about the gear.

Bellevue fire Capt. Mark Moulton, team coordinator, showed how to operate equipment, including a portable weather station that's able to track vapor plumes and a laser-beam-analysis device.

The device is able to answer the all-important question of "What is this?" by comparing a test sample to 3,135 records in a database.

Moulton warned, however, that the laser could ignite something, like a container of black powder, or set off an explosion in a chemical-filled room.

The Eastside Hazardous Materials team is made up of fire departments from Bellevue, Bothell, Duvall, Kirkland, Redmond, Eastside Fire & Rescue and the Woodinville Fire & Life Safety District.

The intent of the drills, said Moulton, is partly to avoid incidents like the one Wednesday in Boston, where lighted devices used in a cartoon's marketing ploy were found around the city, triggering fears of terrorism and a traffic-stalling emergency response. The devices also were found in Woodinville, Bothell and Seattle.

Generally, the drill was considered a success, Moulton said, with the teams "avoiding paralysis by analysis," setting up proper chains of command and rapidly recovering the dummies that were simulated victims.

"We hope to be better at it," Moulton said, as the training exercises continue. "You flush out a number of issues every time."

Peyton Whitely: 206-464-2259 or pwhitely@seattletimes.com