Y2K scare motivated emergency planning

The Y2K scare provided an ideal dry run for local agencies and businesses concerned about increasing speculation about domestic terrorist attacks, local officials agree.

"That was a potential disaster, so it got agencies and the private sector to understand they had to have an emergency operations plan," said David Lenox, coordinator of the Tucson-Pima County Office of Emergency Management.

Emergency operations in Tucson and other American cities most often activate for fires, floods and tornadoes, said Kim Janes, field health services manager for the Pima County Health Department.

Unlike natural disasters, terrorist attacks can be waged on everything from government buildings and defense contractors like Raytheon Missile Systems to the power grid and the water supply.

But all of these entities have security measures and contingency plans in place, Lenox said.

Here's a roundup on how regional utilities and public services are staying on alert.

On Sept. 13, the FBI's Counterterrorism Division issued a Terrorist Threat Advisory, effective through Oct. 13. Those with computer systems have been warned to be on a "heightened state of alert" and should implement "appropriate security measures - both physical and cyber."

Suggestions include shutting down nonessential connections to the Internet, including mail lists, remote access and instant messaging. Other security measures should be reviewed as well, to be sure holes do not exist.

Paul Winn of the Tucson Airport Authority said Y2K preparations have gone a long way to prepare Tucson for any crisis. The authority reviewed all computer systems for security and updated them then.

Paul Castelano of the Arizona Department of Public Safety in Southern Arizona agreed.

The importance of everyone being prepared is emphasized in the FBI report. It states that 85 percent of 538 businesses surveyed from March 2000 to March of this year said someone had penetrated them through the Web.

The city of Tucson reports having checked its computer security within the past year and said it scored well.

An official of Tucson Electric Power Co., which serves about 343,000 home and business customers, said security has been tightened at TEP facilities but declined to elaborate.

"They can rest assured that we're taking appropriate measures to protect their system," spokesman Art McDonald said.

TEP owns all or part of four major power plants in Arizona and northwest New Mexico and has about 1,930 miles of high-voltage transmission lines criss-crossing the state.

McDonald said TEP and other utilities review and practice emergency-response plans in cooperation with the Tucson and Pima County emergency authorities, and drills conducted during the Y2K computer scare may have helped update procedures.

A utility-industry security expert said most major utilities had adequate emergency plans before the terrorist attacks, but they are now working to accelerate improvements.

"Nuclear plants are highly regulated, but with non-nuclear plants, they are only as serious as their corporate executives are," said Charles Saums, a former utility security chief and founder of Security Support Services in Jacksonville, Miss.

Jim McDonald, a spokesman for the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Plant said the plant has been on its highest level of alert since the Sept. 11 attacks and will remain so "for the extended future."

Located about 50 miles west of Phoenix and about 120 miles northwest of Tucson, Palo Verde is operated by Arizona Public Service Co. and owned by APS and several other utilities. TEP does not own or buy power directly from Palo Verde.

McDonald said visitor tours of the plant have been suspended indefinitely and access to protected areas has been tightened. He declined to discuss further specifics, but he said the plant is protected by a large, armed and highly trained security force.

Paul Leventhal, president of the Nuclear Control Institute and a frequent industry critic, said his group wants National Guard troops to be stationed at all nuclear plants.

Leventhal noted that nuclear plants have often failed tests by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in which mock attackers penetrated defenses, and a terrorist recently testified at his trial that Afghan terrorists have practiced attacking power plants.

"All of this has to be taken very seriously," said Leventhal, a former U.S. Senate senior energy staffer. "A (radioactive) plume over a city could have unthinkable effects."

If the TV or radio station you are tuned to interrupts its programming for a message from the Emergency Alert System within the next two weeks, it won't be a test.

In connection with the recent terrorist attacks, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has requested that stations suspend their routine testing until Oct. 2 to avoid potential public confusion or fear.

Originally known as the Emergency Broadcast System, the digital communications age led to a system upgrade in 1997 that now provides not only a verbal warning message but also digital data that allow any station to automatically put a warning message over the air.

If you've been in Tucson long enough, you probably remember the air raid sirens that went off every Saturday at 1 p.m. during the Cold War. Established under the Civil Defense Act of 1955, many of the 18 sirens still stand around town, but they were disconnected in 1994.

"You won't see a return to the air sirens" said David Lenox, coordinator of the Tucson-Pima County Office of Emergency Management. "The cost of it would be prohibitive to reinstate, and we have the Emergency Alert System in its place."

The operation that would churn from the basement of a Downtown building if terrorists hit Pima County is the same one that gears up every monsoon season and two years ago braced for the Y2K computer bug.

The Tucson-Pima County Office of Emergency Management is poised to activate operations that would coordinate all local support agencies, including hospitals, emergency shelters and public works, police and fire departments, said coordinator David Lenox.

One example of how the center would coordinate efforts can be seen in how injured people would be taken to hospitals. Ambulance services in Tucson and the rest of the country are market-driven, and as a result, only about 50 ambulances are available locally, Lenox said.

"That equates to about 100 injured people, which is not very many in the event of a disaster," he said. "What we would do is contact Maricopa County, where they've got several hundred they could send us if they're not being impacted at the same time."

Normally in training mode, the center is at heightened readiness in light of the recent terrorist attacks, he said.

All hospitals certified by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations - a nonprofit body that sets standards for hospitals, health care networks and other care organizations - are required to have disaster plans that cover on-site emergencies and community disasters.

"This is a combination of years and years of plans and modifications of those plans," said Dr. Harvey Meislin, acting head of University Medical Center's department of emergency medicine, referring to the hospital's disaster plan.

Hospitals contacted for this story said they hold several drills annually covering internal emergency procedures and participate in at least one communitywide drill covering community disasters.

"The hospitals are relatively well equipped in handling moderate civilian disasters," said Meislin. "But if it's really toxic terrorism such as nuclear, biological or chemical terror, I don't think this community is well prepared."

One issue in Tucson is the shrinking number of hospital beds. Any disaster on the level of the World Trade Center attack would severely test Tucson's ability to find space for victims, said Dan Johnston, local chairman of the National Disaster Medical System, a program developed by the federal government in 1986. The program designates certain cities as sites for disaster relief. Tucson is one of 79 such cities.

The planning for Tucson's role in that federal program has improved the city's preparedness if a disaster were to occur locally, said Johnston.

For example, the American Red Cross, one of the participants in the program, maintains a database of injured people as reported by local hospitals. This database allows family members to call and check on loved ones.

At Tucson Medical Center, hospital officials have begun investing more heavily in gear that would aid in disasters caused by chemical, biological or radiological contaminants.

"Our emergency response team is trained in hazardous operations to deal with chemical incidents," said Kerry Reeve, chairman of the hospital's committee on disaster response. "We've invested money in protective equipment."

Southwest Gas Corp., the state's largest natural gas distributor, also has emergency plans to deal with and avert disasters.

"One thing we are concerned about are delivery points from El Paso Natural Gas Co.," Southwest Gas spokeswoman Libby Howell said.

There are 246 taps that deliver gas from El Paso to the Southwest Gas system that serves Southern Arizona. That number makes it less likely for Southwest Gas customers to be adversely affected by damage to parts of the system.

"The system is designed to back fill in other directions. It's not very often we have a one-way feed," Howell said.

Since the East Coast attacks, Southwest Gas has stepped up its emergency plans "to deal with certain kinds of incidents."

Howell could not release specifics. But she said the company is reviewing current plans with employees to make sure they know their role in an emergency.

Other security measures the company takes include off-site backups of customer records, making sure fuel is readily available for its fleets and manning a local emergency operation center.

Southwest Gas buys, distributes and transports gas from 85 sources to 1.4 million customers in Arizona, Nevada and Southern California.

Qwest Communications, which serves about 95 percent of local phone customers in Arizona, was particularly tight-lipped about its security measures.

"Qwest has several levels of security at our facilities. We are currently at a higher state of security than normal," the company said in a statement.

While national experts warn that transportation systems could be at risk - including airlines, trucking companies, railroads and roadways - local officials say Tucson is prepared.

Tucson International Airport has implemented new FAA regulations including the banning of curb-side check-ins and possession of sharp objects in carry-on items.

"Security is something we concern ourselves with at the airport all the time," said Paula Winn, Tucson Airport Authority spokeswoman.

Many trucking companies have begun using satellite tracking or other monitoring systems to keep the threat of hijacking or other misuse of trucks to a minimum. Panic buttons also make it possible in vehicles so equipped.

Railroads, including Union Pacific, already have checked for damage, and have heightened on-site security as well, prohibiting anyone but employees and critical contractors from being on site.

In addition, Mike Furtney, a spokesman for Union Pacific Railroad, based in San Francisco, said railroads are prepared because they meet annually with local emergency response teams on how to handle emergencies involving hazardous materials.

As for the task of keeping the state's highways open, the Arizona Department of Public Safety is ready to dispatch personnel to divert traffic if blockages occur or to participate in Pima County's emergency response unit.

* This report was compiled by Jonathan Higuera, Macario Juárez Jr., R.A. Hesterman, Thomas Stauffer and David Wichner.

I finally finish off eating all the chocolate, drinking all the booze, using all the TP and now I have to start collection it up all over again. :(

The lack of any real terrorist trouble during Y2K was actually an intelligence victory for the Clinton administration with several arrests on this continent and more abroad. An additional element of today's activities that we can thank the foresight of Clinton for is the training of special forces to participate in urban and close order, small force, fighting. Clinton abandoned the "giant conflict" scenarios of the Cold War and demanded that troops be trained for small, possibly urban, engagements. The rapidity with which we have deployed and the effectiveness that we will soon demonstrate are all attributable to the foresight of the Clinton admin (much as I disagreed with him on many other fronts, this one I agree with).

Call me cynical, but I wondered whether the emphasis on small unit urban training by the military was intended to prepare for domestic deployment. Gen. 50:20?

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