• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

Radiation scare tests Florida’s response

Emergency Management Alert, February 1, 2005

A alert indicating high levels of radiation in West Palm Beach, FL, forced the evacuation of downtown and the notification of police, the health department, and nuclear regulators last week, the Sun Sentinel reported.

The word radiation signaled "this was not your everyday fire call," Federal Bureau of Investigation spokesperson Judy Orihuela told the Sentinel. "There was a potential terrorist angle."

Ultimately, there was no terrorist threat or real emergency. However, an office fire, where radioactive material containing measuring devices were stored, explained the unusually high levels of radiation. While the devices weren't faulty, the fire department still doesn't have a clear explanation for the high radiation readings.

However, the fire department's arrival at the office building triggered a series of calls to emergency workers and law enforcement agencies that eventually reached the Nuclear Regulatory Commission outside Washington, D.C.

The heightened response is just part of the world we live in, Phil Kaplan, a West Palm Beach Fire-Rescue spokesman told the Sentinel. "We don't feel that there was any overreaction whatsoever."

Part of readiness is discussing terrorism as a possibility, health department spokesman Tim O'Connor told the Sentinel.

Hospitals and fire-rescue units from Key West to Jupiter were put on standby, and the county health department director, and two other staff physicians responded personally to the scene.

The response to the radiation alert also involved the county's hazardous materials team and an inspector from the state's Bureau of Radiation Control.

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive