Gas Masks Provided To 35,000 Birmingham, Alabama Residents
Chemical weapons incinerator at the Anniston Army Depot

AP 27mar02

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The federal government will pay for gas mask-like safety gear for thousands of people who live near an incinerator where the Army will burn deadly nerve agents, the governor's office said Wednesday.

As many as 35,000 people in eastern Alabama could receive the protective hoods and training under an agreement reached in Gov. Don Siegelman's lawsuit over the chemical weapons incinerator at the Anniston Army Depot.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said many details remain to be worked out.

``We have not settled on any numbers,'' said Mary Hudak, a FEMA spokeswoman in Atlanta.

In return for the government's pledge to provide $7 million for the gear and training, the state will withdraw its request that a judge block the opening of the incinerator, Siegelman spokesman Rip Andrews said.

Siegelman filed suit last month to halt operation of the $1 billion incinerator.

The protective hoods, which function like gas masks but are larger and simpler to use, would be given to people who live nearest the incinerator.

The money would also be used to purchase gear for as many as 500 police, firefighters and emergency management workers who would respond to any accident at the incinerator, said Mike Burney, emergency management director for Calhoun County.

An estimated 75,000 people live within about nine miles of the incinerator, situated about 60 miles east of Birmingham.

``Even a small accident could be catastrophic,'' Burney said.

While the military has destroyed aging nerve agents at incinerators in the Pacific and the Utah desert, the Anniston installation is the first to be located in a populated area.

The Army plans to begin test burns of nerve gas in September.