BY DANIELLE ZIELINSKI
247-7870
July 5, 2006
Gamma radiation is a stealthy perpetrator: invisible, odorless, and
potentially deadly.
But soon Hampton Roads law enforcement agencies will have a simple way to
capture it, with portable radiation alarms that can warn first responders in
situations ranging from an industrial accident to a terrorist attack.
"Unless you have this capability, you wouldn't know that you are responding
to a scene that may have been a dirty bomb," said Bill Ginnow, a program
manager with the Hampton Roads Metropolitan Medical Response System. "This
quickly alerts and protects our first responders from being exposed."
The system spent $400,000 of a federal homeland security grant on
radiological equipment, including 550 detectors. Ginnow said the devices
would be distributed based on population to 10 cities and six counties in
Hampton Roads within the next two months.
Jurisdictions slated to receive the detectors include the cities of Hampton,
Newport News, Norfolk, Poquoson, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Chesapeake, Franklin,
Virginia Beach and Williamsburg, and Gloucester, Isle of Wight, James City,
Southampton, Surry and York counties.
While there aren't enough detectors for every individual police officer,
firefighter and emergency medical technician in the area, Ginnow said
departments should be able to equip most of their first- response vehicles.
The radiation detector, called the GammaRAE II, works by using a crystal
sensor to intercept gamma radiation, according to Erin Lang, a product
marketing engineer at Rae Systems, the manufacturer. The gamma rays -
electromagnetic waves similar to X-rays - interact with atoms in the
crystal, producing an electronic current in the device proportionate to the
radiation level, Lang said. The detector updates this information every two
seconds and sends out an audio and visual alarm whenever the radiation
amount reaches 15 units above the normal level for an area.
The device, roughly the size of a pager, can be mounted in a vehicle or
clipped onto clothing.
Emergency personnel said the alarm would allow a first responder to limit
his or her own exposure to the radiation source, as well as know to remove
any others from the area and call for the hazardous materials team.
"The longer you're exposed to it, the closer you are to it and the amount of
shielding you have are all going to play a part," said Bob Ryalls, district
chief for the James City Fire Department.
People are exposed to minimal amounts of gamma radiation every day from the
sun, indoor lighting and some medical procedures. Only at extremely high
levels of exposure does the body begin to experience radiation illness,
which can cause bone marrow and intestine damage, a loss of red and white
blood cells, internal bleeding, vomiting, diarrhea and death.
Dana Perry, spokeswoman for the Newport News Fire Department, said the
city's fire and police departments would each receive 30 detectors. While
Newport News' hazmat team has always had radiation detection ability, up
until now, everyday police and firefighters have not.
"I think that's a shortcoming," Perry said.
"It's kind of like the canary that goes down into the coal mine. This is our
modern canary."
Copyright © 2006, Daily Press
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