Norwood News

The DEP recently conducted a drill to test emergency procedures in the case of a chlorine leak at the Jerome Park Reservoir Gatehouse #5 on Paul Avenue in Bedford Park, but it wasn’t without incident.

Last fall, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) was criticized when a chlorine leak occurred and very few local residents were alerted, including officials at the Bronx High School of Science, just across the street from the reservoir.

“Last October, there was a small [chlorine] release,” said acting DEP Commissioner Steven Lawitts, addressing that issue after the DEP’s drill on Sunday, May 31. “It was totally contained in that building, there were no injuries and no one was in danger, and while the chances of it happening are very small, we need to conduct exercises like this, so that if a real emergency occurs, we’ll be prepared.”

Lawitts added that the facility is not in use and no chlorine is currently stored at the location.

For the most part, the drill went smoothly, but despite alerts to the media and flyers issued by the DEP, the exercise was moved over one block, after it was learned that members of a church conducting a service at Bronx Science were not aware of it.

The drill kicked off just after 8 a.m. at the corner of West 205th Street and Goulden Avenue, as one DEP official got on his cell phone to report that a chlorine spill had overcome one worker and a second worker was missing.

At 8:20 a.m., an Emergency Medical Services (EMS) supervisor arrived on the scene, followed by a host of EMS and Fire Department units.

FDNY members removed a mannequin from a truck and took it inside as the potential patient. A firefighter was placed on a second gurney and brought inside. The firefighters would physically have to locate the victim in their oversized protective jumpsuits.

Members of New Day Church, which has held mass at the Bronx Science for months, were first informed of the drill shortly before it went into full swing.

An agent from the NYPD’s School Safety Division, parked outside the high school, responded, “What drill?” when told about the exercise.

“We knew about the church service this morning,” Lawitts said. “We chose Sunday morning for a drill like this, so it would have the least impact on the community.”

Jim Long, a spokesman for the FDNY, said during an actual leak, the school wouldn’t necessarily need to be evacuated. “That would depend on all of the variables: the weather, time of day and wind conditions. It’s not immediately necessary to evacuate because sometimes you can cause more harm than good, but that is something that is definitely reviewed and if it’s necessary, it will be done.”