CST Clears Stadium before First Game of Series

The idea of a terrorist releasing a biological, radiological or chemical agent in the confines of a crowded sports stadium is frightening. And yet it’s all too realistic for the members of Georgia’s 4th Civil Support Team. The team’s 22 specialists are trained to deploy quickly, analyze the threat accurately and take immediate action to safeguard lives and property. 

The CST’s capabilities was once again tested as team members were called to clear Atlanta’s Ted Turner Stadium before game one of the National League Division Championship Series. Hours before the first pitch, CST team members were positioned for a search of the 50,000-seat structure. 

During the bustle of pre-game preparation, two Georgia Army Guardsmen began going about a prescribed search for the unthinkable – biological, chemical or radiological substances that may have been smuggled into the stadium. The soldiers disappeared through the door marked “Visitors Locker Room” carrying two hand-held instruments, one a bright yellow unit resembling a Geiger counter called the BT-550. The unit records air samples at the various locations in the stadium. The second man follows with a radiological detection device not much larger than a television remote. Studying the fluctuations on a lighted meter, the soldier holding the device looked for telltale signs of radiation leakage.

Red lights blink abnormally as the two CST members walked along the row of lockers bearing the names of Chicago Cub stars Sammy Sosa, Mark Pryor and Mark Remlinger. A few early arriving ball players eyed the pair suspiciously. No area of the locker room escaped the careful probe of the CST detectives. Once finished, three clear plastic cups were removed from the BT-550 and stored in a plastic bag. But not before one of the searchers noted on the bag the location of the search, the time and the sample number. An loud hum denoted that the machine had sterilized itself before the next search.

Food storage and preparation areas of Turner Field were the next to be tested. Thousands of pounds of meat, poultry, can goods, bakery products, pizzas and countless other items arrive daily at the stadium. These are stored in cold rooms that are, at least, two stories high. With their every breath vaporizing in the 28-degree refrigerator, the two searchers continue to monitor air and radiation samples, crawling around pallets of hamburgers and hundreds of canisters of carbonated beverages. They searched diligently for hazardous toxins that can be laced in food products as well as for dangerous gas that can be smuggled in with hundreds of CO2 cylinders waiting to be moved upstairs to concession stands. Again, the searches did’nt find anything abnormal.

After more than an hour, the pair ended their search with the Braves executive offices and the mailroom, a location all too susceptible to the presence of anthrax or other deadly substances. A mailroom employee cautiously backed away while the BT-550 conducted its final search. Georgia’s 4th CST has conducted this search so often that Braves and stadium employees know them by name and feel more comfortable when they are around.

With the foot search completed, air samples taken in a half dozen areas around the stadium were carried to a Mobile Analytical Lab packed with ultra high tech monitoring equipment. Two CST laboratory technicians, skilled in the of detection and chemical analysis put the samples through a battery of revealing tests. Fortunately, none of the samples revealed any cause undo alarm.

In a little more than an hour, and in the midst of massive preparation for the first in a series of championship games, members of the 4th CST conducted a search for the most common weapons that could have caused widespread public horror and panic. Within minutes, the CST was, again, able to report “all clear” to Atlanta Police and stadium authorities. The division championships went on that night, but the next day would be another story.