Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part series about Illinois’ response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the East Coast.

Fifteen minutes after commercial airliners were hijacked and rammed into the World Trade Center and Pentagon on Sept. 11, the Illinois Emergency Operations Center was up and running, contacting national agencies and keeping an eye on the state’s security.

“That is our biggest strength,” said Richard Jaehne, Illinois Fire Service Institute director and liaison to the center. “Our coordination is key.

“In a very serious situation like that, you can’t be running around and bumping into each other. We have to park our egos at the door and solve the problem.”

Since the creation of the Illinois Terrorism Task Force in 1999, Illinois has made some progress in preparing for a terrorist attack, but state officials agree work still needs to be done.

The Emergency Operations Center, headed by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, is comprised of liaisons from 19 different federal, state and local agencies and operates during any national or state emergency.

The purpose of the center is “for a central place were all the information can come together and be shared amongst the different agencies,” Jaehne said.

Directly following the start up of the Emergency Operations Center on Sept. 11, IEMA employed the Emergency Operations Plan, which is a response plan for state agencies in a disaster situation.

Both the plan and the center were created to ensure that the response to a disaster is as efficient as possible.

“The complexity of this is something all of us have wrestled with,” Jaehne said. “The web of agencies that deal with (disasters) is complex, and they must function together locally but with national support.”

IEMA Director Michael Chamness said that Illinois “would have been ready to respond” if an act of terrorism occurred in the state on Sept. 15.

However, he said that since the attacks, the agency has been working to “fine tune” the Emergency Operations Plan.

“We have been looking at various ‘what if’ scenarios. We look at those scenarios and fill in any holes that may exist,” he said. “We are also looking to New York to learn lessons from the occurrences there.

“We will be paying close attention.”

Chamness said the future development of Illinois’ emergency response plans and initiatives will “shift slightly” from natural concerns to “man-made” hazards as a result of the East Coast attacks.

Chamness also heads the Illinois Terrorism Task Force, which is responsible for preparing the state for acts of terrorism and has been working to make improvements to Illinois’ disaster response structure.

Through state funding, the task force has increased the number of level A fire departments, which are specially trained and equipped to handle hazardous materials and operate in significant disaster situations.

There are currently 27 such fire departments throughout Illinois,

and they can be mobilized to anywhere in the state when needed.

Fire Chief Jerry Anderson of the Carbondale Fire Department, a level A department, recently served on committees that certified level A departments.

Anderson said the training for level A departments is not “terrorism specific,” but the response to a man-made disaster or a natural disaster is technically the same.

To qualify as a level A department, Anderson said the process is both “labor and cost intensive.”

He said a whole list of equipment is needed, such as hazardous material suits and high-tech searching equipment. Hundreds of hours of training also are required in “structural collapse, victim rescue, confined spaces and trench rescue.”

Aside from Carbondale, level A fire departments are also located in Bloomington, Collinsville, Danville, Effingham, Normal, Urbana, Macomb, Edwardsville and Springfield.

“Most of the departments are located in the North,” Anderson said.

The Illinois Terrorism Task Force also has developed State Interagency Response Teams, which are composed of members from the Illinois State Police, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, Illinois Department of Public Health, IEMA, Illinois Department of Nuclear Safety and local fire departments.

The teams are specially designed and trained to respond to “terrorist and other disasters,” Chamness said. The teams have hazardous materials training and are backed up by the Illinois National Guard and the Illinois Civic Support Team, a national organization of disaster-trained civilians.

Three SIRTs are scheduled to be functioning by spring. The first team, located centrally, has already been completed. The second team, located in northern Illinois, will be completed in November and the final team, for southern Illinois, will be completed by April.

Chamness said the central SIRT is prepared to respond to any occurrence in the state until the other teams are complete.

However, the efforts of the Illinois Terrorism Task Force have just begun, he said.

“(IEMA) will continue the work of the task force, but we will be intensifying our efforts because of the recent tragedy,” he said.

Jaehne, who is also a member of the task force, said the task force will continue to build on the current accomplishments, and “we will see where the pieces don’t fit and fix them.”

Overall, the East Coast terrorist attacks’ effects on Illinois will go deeper than just changing different agencies’ plans and initiatives.

“The biggest change will be that people in Illinois will begin to realize that terror is real,” Jeahne said. “It is not just in other countries or on TV.

“It is on our soil.”

University of Illinois professor Clifford Singer, director of the Arms Control, Disarmament and International Security program, said people in Illinois will “obviously feel more vulnerable.”

But Clifford said the increase of security must be balanced with Illinois’ other needs.

“Everyone would like more protection, and there is much to be done,” he said. “But how much resources we divert to that will affect how we can deal with other social issues.

“There are, in fact, more people killed a year from gun shot wounds than were killed in the World Trade Center, and preventing both of those uses the same resources,” Clifford said. “You have to find a balance.”