To highlight the vital work done at Fort Detrick and show the critical infrastructure once associated with the various missions of the installation, leadership from the Garrison and the Medical Research and Development Command provided a tour of multiple locations to Army Deputy Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Kevin Vereen on Jan. 29, 2024
The successful visit was highlighted with a windshield tour of the installation and stops including the former Steam Sterilization Plant, the closed incinerator, and our Child Development Center and School Age Center.
As the Army continues determining how to fund and manage operations at a future incinerator, Lt. Gen. Vereen requested to see the former facility that closed due to EPA enforcement actions for violations and inability to maintain the facility to permitted standards. At the time of closure, mission partners and tenant organizations identified the way forward by using specialized waste management contractors that comply with all regulatory requirements to ensure the correct disposal of medical waste off post. While the incinerators are inoperable, municipal waste is currently taken to the local county transfer station and then onward to a landfill.
Vereen also toured the former Steam Sterilization Plant, which previously sustained biomedical research and closed in 2018 due to a failure. At the time of closure, the SSP was over 70 years old. It provided steam sterilization of liquid waste from research labs after the waste was chemically disinfected at the sources. The installation is working on the way forward with the plant, including funding to demolish and restore this facility.
At the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Vereen visited the facility for the first time and heard progress updates on the new research facility.
Lastly, Installation leaders escorted Vereen on a driving tour that included RCI Housing, barracks, the Global Signal and Intelligence Campus, the Central Utility Plant/ Energy Production Facility, and the National Interagency Biodefense Campus. During the visit, Fort Detrick Garrison Commander, Col. Ned Marsh, provided information to answer the questions about RCI Housing and infrastructure sustainment at Fort Detrick despite multiple Joint Interagency National Security Missions.
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