Legion of Angels News Archive

SAN FRANCISCO – “Weapons of mass destruction multi-agency exercise.”

If I’ve ever covered an event with a more stark title, I can’t think of it.

But there I was Saturday morning, along with several hundred firefighters, police officers, Army National Guard personnel, and members of other local, state, and federal agencies for a large-scale exercise designed to help train all these emergency responders how to deal with a major terrorist attack involving suspected chemical weapons or other bio-hazards.

As a bulletin announcing the exercise put it, the goal was for the agencies’ personnel to “identify the emergency and work as one large team to protect and save lives and mitigate the hazards.”

Practically speaking, this was quite the undertaking. Upon arriving in the middle of San Francisco’s usually crowded financial district, I encountered no traffic, but a wide variety of emergency vehicles and dozens upon dozens of people in almost every official uniform you can imagine.

This is not the first time San Francisco has run an exercise like this. Last year, the city ran another such scenario at the famous pyramid-shaped Transamerica building. This time, the owners of 555 California St., one of the city’s largest office buildings, had asked the city to prepare an exercise in their building. And so for the last year, the city and the owner of that building and another nearby had been planning this day.

The scenario was this: a terrorist with a backpack full of sodium cyanide–a chemical used in gold mines that quickly attacks and shuts down the human respiratory system–unleashed it inside 555 California.

The attack instantly kills a number of people and injures others.

Because of the victims, the fire department is the first to arrive on the scene, and when the firefighters discover what’s happened, they isolate the building’s lobby and deny entry into the building by anyone else, and then quickly set up a mass decontamination system nearby. And then they call in the specialists.

This is, of course, the whole point: to bring in the many different types of specialists to deal with the variety of complexities a situation like this creates.

But to make it even more complicated, the scenario had more to it: emergency personnel also discover an improvised explosive device inside 555 California, and just when they’re dealing with everything going on there, there’s also a shooting in another office building nearby.

By the time the press was allowed into the scene, all this was under way. We got a quick briefing from SFFD public information officer Mindy Talmadge, who explained that the exercise, which cost about a quarter million dollars, was paid for with federal grant money.

One of the elements of the scenario was that no one actually knows at first what the terrorist has attacked with. It seems obvious it is some form of chemical weapon, but the specifics are still a mystery. Finding out and then disseminating that information is one of the goals of the exercise.

“They knew it was a CBRN (chemical, biological, radioactive or nuclear) event,” said Talmadge, “and that it was a terrorist event. They don’t know what the chemical is. They have to decide based on what they find and what they heard.”

In the scenario, the attack has happened on a busy weekday, but of course, it’s actually a quiet Saturday and downtown is rather empty. There are some random pedestrians walking through the scene–which is closed to automobiles, but not foot traffic, since many local businesses were open–and it is sort of odd to see them passing through what is otherwise an extremely unusual and macabre scene.

“I doubt people would be walking calmly around” during a real emergency, Talmadge admits.

But of course, shutting down several blocks of the city’s financial district on a weekday would be a pretty significant thing.

At a press briefing later involving the chiefs of both the fire and police department, I asked if there was any possibility of ever running this kind of exercise during a workday, since it would seem that it would be helpful for these emergency personnel to learn how to handle such a situation with countless people and vehicles around.

“It would be a challenge, but if the community wanted it, we would plan and find the resources to do it” and deal with the inconveniences, said SFPD Chief Heather Fong.

Another interesting part of all this is just how slow everything and everyone seems to be moving.

Even as the exercise was in full swing, everywhere you looked, emergency personnel were standing around in groups, talking, sitting on overturned newspaper boxes, and otherwise waiting for something to do.

One man from the 95th Civil Support Team–a federal agency that specializes in WMD situations–in a blue hazmat suit that was pulled about halfway up his body, was intently looking at a device in his hands that had an orange antenna and looked a little bit like a Wi-Fi router. He said it was an air monitor and was used to measure what was in the air nearby.

At the same time, a fireman in a bright yellow hazmat suit was brandishing another device, this one looking like a circa 1984 cell phone. He said it was a gas detector used to determine what gases might be in the area.

All in all though, most of the people milling around, many in hazmat suits, others in a variety of official uniforms, were looking bored and like they wanted something to do.

But this is according to plan. That’s because one thing that seems very important to everyone in charge here is that in the course of trying to help out the victims of the attack, the emergency responders don’t themselves become victims.

And that means moving slowly and methodically.

According to SFFD Chief Joanne Hayes-White, one of the main goals of this scenario is to the members of all the various agencies that would be involved in the response to a real attack together so that they begin to know each other.

“It’s difficult to have the level of seriousness (you would have) in a real situation” in an exercise, Hayes-White acknowledged, “but it’s a good lesson for us.”

She said that prior to September 11, emergency personnel were trained to charge right into buildings where something had gone seriously wrong. But the lessons of the post-September 11 world is that it is important to know exactly what the situation is before sending vital personnel in unprepared.

Still, Hayes-White admitted that it is hard for highly trained responders to just stand around and wait for as much as two hours–which is what was happening Saturday.

“They might be feeling a little frustrated and a little awkward about standing around,” she told me. “But we want to keep everybody safe. And it’s sometimes difficult to simulate that.”

After awhile, we went back inside the lobby of 555 California where the man from the 95th CST and another from the police department, both in serious hazmat suits, were investigating what was clearly supposed to be the chemical agent causing all the ruckus.

With the “victims” still lying prone on the floor nearby, the two methodically worked on the chemical in an attempt to identify it.

The idea here is that until now, no one knew what the chemical was, and therefore how to respond to it. Soon enough, however, word came that they had identified it as sodium cyanide, and quickly the word went out over the radios.

The men take three samples of the chemical, one that is put away, never to be opened, one to be tested and a third for a re-test, if that’s necessary.

And it’s tricky work, largely because the men are trying to work with cotton swabs and other small items while wearing thick gloves. Indeed, as they work, they drop their swabs on the floor at least once.

They are also working with a small computer that a member of the 95th CST tells me is called an Ouera, and is used to analyze the chemicals found at the scene.

“It tests whatever the substance is,” said Sgt. Maj. Daniel Morales of the 95th CST. “We take the sample over to our mobile laboratory. And if they’re not able to determine what it is, they’ll take it over to Lawrence Livermore” National Lab.

Eventually, the two men in hazmat suits are done, and they leave. They walk across the street where they are put through what is called technical decontamination. This is a process involving a careful and thorough scrubbing down of their suits, and then each part of the multiple layers they are wearing. The idea is to ensure that nothing touches their skin until they are completely clean.

The exercise will continue for several hours, but the major activity is over now.

Since this wasn’t the first time San Francisco has had an exercise like this, it’s natural to wonder what the city learned from doing it again.

Hayes-White said that, among other things, she felt that the various agencies had found some improvements in the way they were communicating with each other during the exercise. And of course, such communications are vital since with several hundred emergency personnel on the scene, it’s crucial that everyone know what is going on and what they should be doing.

But Hayes-White also stressed that much about the day would only be known afterwards at a series of reviews of the exercise

For me, it was very interesting to watch this evolve.

Given that such an attack would almost certainly happen during a busy weekday, it’s hard to feel like this exercise, held on a quiet weekday is anything like what the real thing would be like.

I think, ultimately, the real point of this is what Hayes-White alluded to: the need for the various agencies to learn how to work together and to build a collective command structure in the event something horrible like a WMD attack actually happened.

And to be honest, anything that these agencies can learn about how to proceed during what Fong called an “inevitable” attack is worthwhile. Let’s just hope these agencies have the time to carry out a few more of these scenarios and learn a few more lessons before that happens.

Source — Yahoo!

YOU already know that if you exercise outside on hot and humid days, you should drink plenty of water. And you are probably well aware of the risk of heat stroke given the countless reports about the warning signs.

But if you’re going to be out exercising anyway, you may have different questions: How long does it take to acclimate to the heat and humidity, and what is the best way to do it? How much does your performance time slow when it is sweltering and humid, and why? Does it help to douse your head with water?

Should you go out in the morning, when it is cooler but the relative humidity is higher, or at night, when it tends to be hotter but less humid?

The answers, some exercise physiologists say, are not always what you might expect.

There is no question that heat can take a toll on performance. Look, for example, at results from races on the second weekend in June, when a heat wave gripped the Northeast.

On June 7, over 4,000 women ran the New York Mini 10-K race in Central Park. When the race began at 9 a.m., it was 71 degrees and the humidity was 78 percent. The winning time, 32 minutes 43 seconds, by Hilda Kibet, was the slowest in a decade.

“From the beginning, my legs were not really moving,” Ms. Kibet told The New York Times.

That same day in similar weather and humidity, in Cambridge, Md., nearly 1,400 athletes raced in the Eagle Man Half Ironman — a 1.2-mile swim, a 56-mile bike ride, and a 13.1-mile run. Among them was Amy Roth, 32, the director of corporate partnerships at the Whitney Museum in Manhattan. She had trained hard, but the run, in particular, was difficult in the intense heat.

“I felt like I was dragging along but I couldn’t move any faster,” Ms. Roth said.

Still, she ran at a mile pace of 8:07.

“There were very fast people, very good athletes, who were walking, who just couldn’t do it,” she said.

Afterward, some posted comments, agonizing over their sluggish times, on Slowtwitch.com. “You could see the neuroses: ‘Oh, my God, am I getting slower? What does this mean?’ ” Ms. Roth said.

The next day, 190 professional cyclists started the Philadelphia International Championship, a 156-mile race. It was 79 degrees at 9 a.m. start, and 94 degrees when the last cyclist finished in mid-afternoon. About half of the competitors dropped out. The winning time, 6:14:47, by Matti Breschel of Team CSC, based in the Netherlands, was nearly a half hour slower than last year’s time, when it was cooler and drier.

One reason performance declines on sultry, humid days is that working muscles have to compete with the skin for blood. Directing more blood to the skin removes body heat and helps keep your body’s temperature from rising to dangerous levels. But that can mean less blood reaches muscles. At the same time, when your body becomes hotter, muscle enzymes speed up, burning glycogen more rapidly, depleting stores of the sugar that the muscles use for fuel.

Until now, most studies of the effects of heat on performance used treadmills or stationary bikes. If the subjects simulated a 5-kilometer road race lasting 15 to 20 minutes, their times would be 10 percent slower at 100 degrees than at 70 degrees. The longer the subjects ran, the more the performance declined.

One concern is that studies with treadmills may not accurately reflect what happens outside on a scorching day. With no wind indoors, for example, sweat will not evaporate as effectively.

Scott Montain and Matthew R. Ely, researchers at the United States Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine in Natick, Mass., analyzed real-world data from seven major marathons, comparing performances over years when temperatures and humidity varied but the race course remained the same. Heat affected slower runners more, probably because they were on the course longer and ran in packs. Warm bodies close together make it harder for one’s body heat to dissipate.

An elite runner capable of finishing in less than two and a half hours on a cool day (41 to 50 degrees) would be 2.5 percent slower in warmer climes (68 to 77 degrees.) A three-hour marathoner on a cool day would be slowed by 12 percent in the heat, the researchers reported.

It may seem like a brilliant idea, then, to pour water over your head to cool down. That is what Floyd Landis did during a grueling ride on a hot day in the Alps during the 2006 Tour de France.

And last month, on that balmy Saturday, amateur runners used the same trick, dousing their heads, in an 8-kilometer race in Moorestown, N.J. Town residents also squirted runners with their garden hoses.

It is a useless ploy, said Samuel N. Cheuvront, another researcher at the Army institute. “Sweat must evaporate to provide cooling,” he said. “Dripping does not help.”

In fact, he added, if you get too wet you risk hidromeiosis, when sweat pores become blocked, which makes you even hotter.

AT least most races are held in the morning, when it is usually cooler and more humid, than later in the day, when it is hotter and drier.

Cold and humidity stresses the body less; you heat up less when it is cooler. Relative humidity may be greater on cool mornings, but what really matters for sweat evaporation is water vapor pressure. And water vapor pressure is lower when the air is cooler, meaning sweat evaporates faster.

Dr. Cheuvront said that if you have to choose between exercising in the morning when it is 60 degrees and 80 percent humidity, or in the evening when it is 90 degrees and 50 percent humidity, choose the morning.

Yet as challenging as heat and humidity are, people can acclimate. Blood volume expands, which reduces the strain on the heart from the increased demand for blood flow to the skin and muscles. And sweating increases — people who are heat adapted sweat sooner and more profusely, allowing their bodies to cool more efficiently.

For example, if you are not acclimated and run for an hour in 98-degree heat, your core temperature may go up to 103 degrees, bordering on the danger zone, said Craig Crandall, who studies heat acclimation at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. But if you are acclimated, your temperature might be 101 degrees after an hourlong run, which is well within the safety zone. Acclimation takes at least five days, Dr. Cheuvront found. He first asked participants to walk on a treadmill for 100 minutes in a room that was kept at 100 to 120 degrees.

On Day 1, Dr. Cheuvront said, they usually last 30 to 45 minutes. Then, he added, they will either request to get off the treadmill; collapse; or reach the safety-limit core temperature of 104 degrees, at which point they are stopped. By Day 5, just about everyone lasts 100 minutes.

It is possible to adapt even more. Dr. Cheuvront’s subjects continued to improve when they walked on the treadmill in that hot room for five more days.

Some people naturally adapt to heat much more than others. But Dr. Cheuvront said he had never come across a person who did not adapt at all.

The key to acclimation, he said, is to exercise in the heat daily and to be sure you are sweating profusely — wearing extra layers of clothing can help if you are exercising indoors or in cooler weather. Given a choice between spending more time in the heat but exercising less intensely, or less time and exercising more intensely, it is safer to choose to go longer and work less intensely, he said.

MS. ROTH’S impression that running was much harder than cycling in the heat was correct, physiologists say. And it is not just because there is more cooling wind when you ride. It is also because you don’t cycle upright, so your heart has less of a fight against gravity to pump blood to skin. That is especially true in the heat, when blood vessels in the legs are distended and blood tends to pool in the feet, making the flow of blood up to the head even more difficult.

But no matter how much you train in the heat, it will never be easy, athletes and researchers say. So perhaps the best strategy is to just accept discomfort and slowness.

“Heat is the X factor,” Ms. Roth said. “Sometimes you have to just forget it and move on.”

Source — The New York Times