AMU Emergency Management Public Safety

EDM Friday Briefing: Suspicious Items That Shut Down NYC Subway Station Were Just Rice Cookers

By
Fulton Street Subway Arsenault

Emergency and disaster management briefing for August 16, 2019: Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and his family survive the crash of their private jet in eastern Tennessee; an autopsy shows the gunman who opened fire outside a bar in Dayton, Ohio, had drugs and alcohol in his system; NOAA reports that July was allegedly the hottest month since 1880 on Earth; China Lake naval base damages are estimated at over $5 billion following the July 5 earthquake in Ridgecrest; the source of the Legionnaire’s outbreak at the Sheraton Atlanta Hotel has been found; a Ural Airlines flight makes an emergency landing in a cornfield after a bird strike on takeoff; suspicious items left at the Fulton Street subway station in Manhattan were deemed safe by the bomb squad; and Ebola has spread to another province in the DRC.

1) A private jet carrying Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and his family crashed at the Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Tennessee at about 3:38 p.m. Thursday. The Cessna Citation Latitude, N8JR, caught fire after landing when it ran off the end of the runway and through a fence. All five people on board the plane — including the two pilots, Earnhardt, Jr., his wife Amy, and daughter Isla — were able to escape the fiery crash without serious injury.

2) The Montgomery County coroner in Dayton, Ohio, stated that the gunman, Connor Betts, 24, had cocaine, Xanax, and alcohol in his system when he shot and killed nine people earlier this month. Police also made a statement that they were thankful no deaths resulted when rounds fired by responding officers struck and wounded two people. Nine people died on August 4 when Betts opened fire at about 1:00 a.m. outside a bar in the Oregon District of Dayton. Police later arrived on the scene and were able to shoot and kill the gunman.

3) According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), July was the hottest month ever recorded on Earth in the last 140 years. The average temperature in July was allegedly 1.71 degrees Fahrenheit (F) above the 20th-century average of 60.4 degrees Fahrenheit and broke the previous record set in 2016. One weather station, Markusvinsa, north of the Arctic Circle in Sweden, allegedly recorded a temperature of 94.6 degrees Fahrenheit on July 26.

4) The powerful 7.1 earthquake that struck Ridgecrest, California on July 5 caused an estimated $100 million in property damage in the sparsely populated communities of Ridgecrest and Trona. Significant damage also occurred at the massive Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake — where America’s most advanced weapons are tested — just three miles from Ridgecrest. At least 20 percent of the 3,600 buildings are deemed unsafe or use-restricted. Damages were estimated at $5.2 billion for the repair or replacement of buildings, including the air traffic control tower, water pipes, electrical lines, a laboratory, tools and specialized equipment.

5) The Georgia Department of Public Health has confirmed that the source of the Legionnaire’s outbreak that led to the death of one person and sickened a confirmed three others has been identified at the Sheraton Atlanta Hotel. Testing revealed that the Legionella bacteria was in the hotel’s cooling tower and a decorative fountain located inside the atrium. According to the public health department, the entire hotel water distribution system underwent remediation and the hotel has now reopened.

6) A Ural Airlines flight departing Moscow’s Zhukovsky Airport, carrying 226 passengers, was forced to make an emergency landing in a cornfield after striking a flock of birds. The airplane struck the birds just after takeoff from the airport on Thursday, causing the aircraft to lose both engines during climbout. The entire flight lasted just two minutes, and the pilot, who is being dubbed a hero, successfully landed the airplane in the cornfield without engines and with the landing gear up. Only minor injuries were sustained by passengers during the landing.

7) A subway passenger reported finding two suspicious items left on the floor of the Fulton Street subway station to two NYPD counterterrorism officers at around 7:00 a.m. Friday morning, prompting the evacuation of one train and disrupting subway service at the station for about an hour. The bomb squad investigated the items, which turned out to be rice cookers, and gave the all clear at the subway station around 8:20 a.m. Another pressure cooker was found next to garbage at 16th Street and 7th Avenue in Chelsea, which authorities say may or may not be related to the incident at the Fulton Street station.

https://twitter.com/NewsBreaking/status/1162365083974086656

8) Ebola has spread to another province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where one of two people confirmed with the disease has died. The year-long outbreak of the deadly disease began in the North Kivu province and has since spread to the neighboring Ituri province and now South Kivu. It has also crossed into Uganda. It is the deadliest outbreak on record and was declared a global health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization (WHO) in July.

 

Kimberly Arsenault serves as an intern at the Cleveland/Bradley County Emergency Management Agency where she works on plan revisions and special projects. Previously, Kimberly spent 15 years in commercial and business aviation. Her positions included station manager at the former Midwest Express Airlines, as well as corporate flight attendant, inflight manager, and charter flight coordinator. Kimberly currently holds a master's degree in emergency and disaster management from American Public University.

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