CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- Emergency planners in Kanawha County have made some changes to the county's response plan following the explosion at the Bayer CropScience plant that killed two workers.

Dale Petry, Director of Emergency Services for Kanawha County, tells WSAZ.com that depending on the severity of the event, the county now plans to issue an automatic shelter-in-place during a chemical emergency if officials are not able to get clear information about the situation within 10 minutes. The decision was made by the Kanawha-Putnam Emergency Planning Committee (KPEPC).

However, Petry says the hope is to have good information from the plant since the workers know best how to react to the situation.

The 10-minute automatic shelter-in-place only applies to serious emergency situations--not uncertain ones like the blue haze, according to Petry.

During the Bayer incident, Petry issued a shelter-in-place about an hour after the blast--a time when the county was unsure of the danger due to communication issues with the plant.

-------
Also, the KPEPC is urging people who live near chemical plants to act on their own after an emergency. The organization says they should not wait for an official shelter-in-place advisory--either evacuate or shelter-in-place as fast as possible.

David Dodrill, chair of the KPEPC's community outreach committee, believes citizens ultimately must be responsible for their own safety.

In preparation for a real chemical disaster, the KPEPC is working with Kanawha County Schools next Tuesday (12/16) to test the shelter-in-place plan. School staff will actually seal doors and windows.

Petry says the planning committee is meeting today (Monday) to work out all of the details for the drill. He says he hopes students will take this information home, sparking discussion for a home emergency plan.

He says the plan is to have at least one firefighter stationed at each school.

-------
When the Bayer CropScience explosion rocked western Kanawha County, so many calls came in to Metro 911 at once, it overloaded the circuits. Many callers got a busy signal after dialing 911.

Since then, Petry says the center has added several new phone lines to help during these types of situations.

Grant Gunnoe, Director of Emergency Services for the City of Charleston, says there was enough staff at the 911 center to handle the call surge, but not enough phone lines.

-------
Petry says Bayer is also looking into getting a calling card that allows priority calling during disasters. Some county officials already have this service through the National Communications System (NCS), which is under the Department of Homeland Security.

The cards allow calls to get through about 95% of the time--even when all of the lines are jammed. Emergency organizations, community leaders, hospitals, schools, and public works agencies are a few of the groups eligible for the calling cards.

So far, a total of five cards have been issued to agencies in Kanawha and Putnam counties.

Petry says Bayer recently purchased and installed new radio equipment that will allow the plant to communicate directly with Metro 911 during emergencies. Bayer had some radio equipment during the recent explosion, but Petry says he believes it was on a different frequency and the workers at Bayer might not have known it was there.

"We want to be ready, if we can," said Petry.