Fire Officials Prepared for Germ Attack

With schools, hospitals and government agencies across Ventura County on high alert, fire officials Tuesday said they are prepared to respond to a bioterrorist attack but urged residents to take precautions handling mail and to report suspicious packages.

“Can anthrax arrive in Ventura County? Yes. Nowhere in the United States can this be prevented, but we are as prepared as we can be,” Ventura County Fire Chief Bob Roper said during a news conference.

The county Fire Department--the largest of four agencies in the area with hazardous materials teams--has trained to deal with bioterrorism since the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, he said.

Roper said his team of 47 hazardous materials experts meets regularly at the department’s training facility at Camarillo Airport and that all 450 uniformed employees attended annual terrorism classes.

In the five weeks since the Sept. 11 attacks, emergency crews in Ventura County have responded to nearly 100 reports of suspicious materials found inside magazines, boxes, paper bags and, in one case, an envelope containing a property tax payment.

Of those cases, about 50 were handled by the Oxnard Fire Department’s hazardous materials team, 35 by the county fire crew and half a dozen by the Ventura Fire Department’s hazardous materials experts. A local military base also reported a case.

No anthrax has been found, but authorities have beefed up staffing. County fire officials said they have spent more than $3,000 in overtime pay in recent weeks.

Roper advised people who suspect a problem with a piece of mail to leave the item where it was found or place it in a sealed plastic bag. Next, isolate the area around the item and call 911.

“If it is a spill somewhere, place a wet towel on top of it so the material doesn’t become airborne. You don’t want to expose anyone else to it,” Roper said.

These precautions were also outlined in a memo released Monday by the state Office of Emergency Services. The memo was circulated to all county departments, schools and state agencies with local offices.

“We’re training everyone we can on the safety of opening mail. We really want to make people more aware,” said California Highway Patrol Officer Dave Webb.

The Ventura office where Webb works held a half-hour mail-handling safety class Tuesday for 60 employees from the Department of Motor Vehicles, other state agencies and the county courthouse.

Although most calls reporting suspicious packages this week originated from Oxnard and Camarillo, county crews have responded to homes, businesses and government offices in every city, Roper said.

‘It’s Not a 100% Guarantee’

During an exhibition of equipment at their training site, county experts displayed the large testing kits they carry for emergencies. The kits are the size of jumbo fishing tackle boxes and contain small bottles of liquids for performing dozens of chemical tests.

There are tests to determine a substance’s acid level or how it reacts to fire. If a substance is deemed questionable by initial tests, a second, more costly chemical reaction test is used.

“It’s fairly good technology, but it’s not a 100% guarantee,” county Fire Department Battalion Chief Ranger Dorn said of the more expensive test kit, called the “Indicator.”

While there are no tests that can be done in the field in Ventura County to determine whether anthrax is present, Roper said any substance deemed questionable will be sent to a lab for further examination.

“I’ve got a family at home and I feel very comfortable about the kind of protection we’ve got,” said Bill Reynolds, a county fire engineer who drives the long, yellow vehicle that acts as the command center, where experts conduct testing.

In addition to chemical test equipment, county fire personnel have portable decontamination tents, several dozen types of goggles, gloves, “moon suits” and breathing apparatus, all depending on the severity of the case.

Fire officials said suspicious materials found in the county have so far appeared in the form of white powders, dirt and paper shavings. They warned, though, that anthrax cannot always be immediately identified.

Dr. Robert Levin, one of several county officials at Tuesday’s media briefing, echoed the sentiments of all safety personnel when he said people should not be panicked and should “relax and open their mail.”

Levin, the county’s top public health official, said he is implementing a countywide early warning system that will allow health officials to respond quickly to any type of bioterrorist act. That system could include charting large clusters of animal deaths at area ranches and farms.

Numerous Scares at Local Facilities

“We want to reassure the public that we are at the highest levels of preparedness,” Roper said.

On Tuesday, county hazardous materials crews responded to four calls reporting a suspicious substance, including one at the Camarillo Library. Earlier, the Ventura City Fire Department’s hazardous materials team responded to a report of a suspicious substance found inside an envelope at the Ventura County tax collector’s office.

Oxnard specialists handled two calls, and a crew of experts at the Point Mugu Navy base responded to at least one incident on base Tuesday.

None of the substances appeared to be harmful, authorities said.

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Times staff writers Tracy Wilson and David Kelly contributed to this report.