Ilocal / state
Battalion/Page 5
October 1, 1982
Cities ready for disaster
I Train derailment possible
|f by Robert McGlohon
Py: Battalion Staff
■Ed W!iM or t;y-four railroad cars — in
cluding seven loaded with vinyl
Bbride, a poisonous gas —
0SClh. wer e involved in a Livingston,
K, train derailment Tuesday.
ionnenfetM a result, more than 2,000
people were evacuated from the
ipang area.
te BmM Jake Cangelose, Brazos
l&unty civil defense director,
ib Rudsays the same thing is possible in
Btazos county. In fact, a train
Tom 8'derailment involving vinyl
chloride did occur in Bryan sev
eral rears ago. But because the
train was travelling at a low
IMspeed, the cars were not punc-
fed and the damage was
slight.
VaugliB'As long as we have the tracks
! 5-5261 and the trains we have the possi-
- Skipl bility of a derailment,” Cange
lose said.
enN.». Although he had no first
hand knowledge of the Living-
ichattei-iEd
ston derailment, he said, the
train was probably moving at a
high speed. Trains are limited to
10 mph while in the Bryan-
College Station area.
“If you notice when the trains
come through the cities, they’re
barely moving,” Cangelose said.
If there is an accident involv
ing hazardous materials in Bra
zos county, an Emergency Re
sponse Team is designed to
handle it. The ERT is a part of
the Brazos County Hazardous
Materials Emergency Plan.
ERT members include fire
and police chiefs from Bryan-
College Station, the University
Police chief, the county sheriff,
the local director of public safe
ty, and civil defense directors in
the area.
In the event of an accident,
the fire department deals with
the accident while the police de
partment handles crowd con
trol, Cangelose said.
Thomas R. Parsons, director
of security and traffic for Texas
A&M University, said the Uni
versity Police are well prepared
for an emergency.
The biggest problem in an
evacuation is getting people to
believe them, Parsons said.
“I believe we could get the
word out pretty fast,” he said.
"But the big problem is getting
people to believe you.”
He cited fire alarms in the
Sterling C. Evans Library as an
example.
“When the fire alarm goes off
in the library, people simply
don’t believe it,” Parsons said.
College Station Fire Chief
Douglas Landua said the fire de
partment’s first units would
reach the accident site in about
three minutes.
He stressed cooperation as
the key to handling disasters.
Besides the ERT, Landua
said, chemists from the Univer
sity, the mayors and city mana
gers of both cities and the rail
road emergency team would be
called in to assist in an
emergency.
Fire and police departments
in the surrounding area would
be available to help, he said.
A 24 hour toll-free number
can be called for advice on the
handling of toxic chemicals.
“While the final decisions
would be mine, I would be re
lying on the advice of others,”
Landua said. “Everybody pitch
es in.”
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OCTOBER 10, 1982
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Manuel
Measles spread
threatens fans
mcv IW l United Press International
■VACO — Baylor University
I and state health officials have
opened another measles im
munization clinic and officials
Rmed of the danger of attend-
EDlCINlf g this weekend's football f esti
vities.
cine - wfWednesday the outbreak iiad
spread to a possible 80 cases and
j joxi, caused more than 4,000 stu-
iwskiS. feus to be innoculated.
Immune® Baylor officials said the dan-
-4755 ? er faces fans planning to attend
:he Baylor-Houston football
■tne or parents’ weekend festi-
IENCE fities.
■“We have more possible cases
Edmisi coming in hourly,” said Baylor
Fauces pokeswoman Karen Benson.
We wanted to get the word out
7 Peck? -0 anyone that might be coming
KiamPufo Waco for the game that if they
ire susceptible at all they need to
ord 5-lijtet a vaccination before
ChmieMOtning.”
■ “This is the greatest concen-
Ktion of red measles in the Un-
nd States at the present time,”
-TERIM|h6 said. “Last year only 2,032
Bes were reported in the entire
United States.”
iology /t ■ The outbreak has caused con-
dan Alltfjcern for the football game Satur
day, which keys Parents’ Day on
campus, Benson said. Officials
are worried because a number
of young children frequently
visit the campus on Parents’ Day,
she said.
A student who did summer
missionary work in Honduras is
believed to have brought the
case of rubeola measles back and
begun the outbreak.
Sometimes called the “10-day
measles”, the rubeola measles
are like rubella measles, but not
nearly as harmful. The measles
do not cause birth defects if con
tracted by pregnant mothers,
but they do tend to last longer
and have more severe symptoms
— such as higher fevers and
worse rashes.
Officials at the University of
Houston said they did not know
about the outbreak and they
were conferring with school
heads to determine if any action
should be taken.
Harris County health depart
ment officials Wednesday
warned Houstonians planning
to travel to Waco for the game to
get measles vaccinations before
they go, a spokesman said.
ile
Deadly fire ants
JhoLild be reduced
United Press International
XH AUSTIN — It is recom-
I 775'lifmendecf that Texas spend $12
million to combat imported fire
ants, which have killed two Tex-
Iggggans, and that half that money go
■vard research.
ft Ul/it|i *Special legislative committee
■irman Rep. Dan Kubiak, D-
3 rOC. Rdi kdale, said in his recommen-
IIC ToW 011 th 31 fi re ant infestations
1 have reached epidemic propor-
dens and are responsible for
lllions of dollars in agricultu-
losses.
I The ants, noted for their
G inful — and possibly fatal —
es and hard earthen mounds
fty build in pastures, have
caused 50 deaths nationwide.
■ The recommended $12 mil
lion appropriation would be
li|ed in two ways.
m The Texas Department of
Y
:ial
Bleak
ivy
3 and
ther
Agriculture would use $6 mil
lion to buy and distribute che
micals such as AMDRO, which
have been found effective in
fighting the ants.
But, Kubiak said, “There are
not enough dollars in the state to
chemically annihilate fire ants.”
Therefore, the remaining $6
million would be used to fund
research at Texas A&M and
Texas Tech universities aimed
at finding a biological way of kill
ing the ants. The committee
proposed that the research
funds be expended over a six-
year period.
However, much of the four-
hour committee meeting was de
voted to the state agriculture de
partment’s request that it be
allowed to use a pesticide very
similar to one previously
banned.
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