Officials: Gas masks inadequate

INDIANAPOLIS -- Some local emergency officials are complaining that thousands of gas masks bought by the state are inadequate to protect police officers and emergency medical workers against a terrorist attack.\nMany of the 16,000 masks remain boxed up at operations centers across the state, and Indiana's emergency management agency is considering whether to replace them.\nThe masks, made of silicone rather than more durable butyl rubber, were given to counties and will protect an emergency worker for 6 minutes against deadly chemicals, such as mustard gas, said Steve Robertson, emergency management director for Marion County.\nThey are used primarily when dealing with industrial accidents, such as ammonia spills, say state and county officials.\n"I could not, in good conscience, give these masks to my men and women who are putting their lives on the line," Robertson told The Indianapolis Star for a story Saturday.\nThe State Emergency Management Agency spent more than $650,000 on the masks that were distributed last month, but state officials said they were never intended for frontline hazardous material duty.\n"They need to understand that the equipment is not designed to enter hot zones," said Mike Bigler, the state's chief deputy fire marshal.\nThe silicon masks are intended for operations workers -- those who stay on the perimeters of disasters, not technicians, the people who actually work at the scene, Bigler said.\nRobertson and other directors, however, say they prefer butyl rubber masks because they protect firefighters for 76 minutes.\nA committee of emergency officials will meet Feb. 27 to discuss replacing the masks.\nAlden Taylor, a spokesman for the emergency management agency, said exchanging the silicone masks for more durable ones should not be a problem.\nMany cities, such as New York, have made the butyl rubber masks standard issue. The silicone masks retail for about $200, and the butyl masks cost about $230. But the state paid only $41 a piece for the silicone masks because of its bulk purchase.\nMarion County, which was given 1,620 of the silicone masks, plans to send them back to the state, and Tippecanoe County has 295 masks it would not use yet.\n"They are sitting on pallets in garages and basements and aren't doing anyone any good," said Tippecanoe County Emergency Management Director Steve Wettschurack.\nRobertson said state officials made a mistake when they assumed that workers on the perimeter would not be exposed to deadly chemicals.\n"At any point during an incident, the warm zone could become the hot zone," he said.\nWettschurack said some emergency workers go in and out of hot zones and having separate gear for different workers could cause confusion.\nTaylor, the emergency management agency spokesman, said hazardous materials teams and fire departments across the state were already equipped to go into contaminated zones.\nGreenwood Fire Chief Steve Dhondt said the silicone masks were fine for the most common types of situations his department faced, such as chemical spills or investigations of mysterious powders.\n"They are great for the purpose they are intended to serve," he said.