Re: Range Fires

[CLiberto@icfkaiser.com (Liberto, Carrie MD06)]

I am one member of a team of contractors working for the US Army Corps of
Engineers, and we are preparing for a Chemical Weapons Removal Action at
Aberdeen Proving Ground, in Maryland. Ted is quite familiar with our project.

We have conducted several vegetation clearance operations at the site in
support of site characterization for a couple of years, without using range
fires and without an incident. This site also neighbors on-post and off-post
residences. Prior to and during the vegetation and brush clearances we worked
carefully and in coordination with UXO scanning teams and tech escort was
supporting our efforts all the way. This effort was manual labor intensive
and included cutting tall grass with a scythe and bushes with an axe. After
the vegetation clearances we were able to do a sub-surface sweep and surface
clearance, and accurately scan for and locate anomalies below the surface to
be removed during our upcoming removal operation. Now we can manage most of
the range by regular mowing, with some additional manual grass and brush
clearance. The major complaint from workers concerned the tics, not the UXO
or CWM. They wore tyvecs during the clearance operations to protect them from
the tics, not hazardous chemicals. Also there was real-time continual
monitoring for chemical agent throughout the operations. There was not one
incident throughout these operations. We made safety a clear priority and
worked in small teams. It has appeared to me that good planning and setting
safety as a priority eliminates worker concerns at UXO sites. It is not clear
to me as to why range fires are the preferred method or only method discussed
at the many sites discussed over the past few days in this forum, especially
considering the risk issues that have been discussed. I would be happy to
forward the name and phone number of the project manager from the US Army
Corps of Engineers who over saw these operations, to any who are interested.