GREENWICH, Conn. (AP) Connecticut has acquired some new tools
to help respond to any terrorist attack about two dozen
14-foot-high, 13,000-pound mass decontamination trailers.
The trailers would be deployed in the event of a biological or
chemical emergency, and are designed to get a contaminated person
clean enough to be evaluated by medical personnel. Each trailer can
process about 100 people in an hour.
The trailers were acquired by the state through a grant from the
U.S. Department of Justice, state police Sgt. John Vaz, with the
state's Division of Homeland Security, told the Greenwich Time.
The trailers are about the length of a fire truck, and have two
entrances that lead to a series of chambers.
In the first chamber, there is a chute for contaminated clothing
and two shower heads. On sprays water and another a cleaning
solution.
A contaminated person would then go into the next chamber, where
spigots spray water sideways and rinse off the body. The person
would then be given a clean jumpsuit and directed to medical
personnel for evaluation.
One of the trailers arrived in Greenwich Friday. Officials say
the town's proximity to New York City makes the town an ideal
location to house the unit.
''We're worried about somebody receiving contamination elsewhere
and coming back to Greenwich,'' Fire Chief Daniel Warzoha said.
''We could do this at the train station. We could do this at
Greenwich Hospital.''
The trailers can be moved by truck or airlifted by helicopter to
any part of the state. Another trailer will soon be stationed in
Stamford, Warzoha said.
The equipment was ordered before the federal government raised
the terror alert this month to high, but it was delivered early
because of the threat of terrorism, state and local officials said.
''It's the state of the times,'' Warzoha said. ''I'd prefer to
never have to put a unit like this into place.''
