Fairchild To Erect Fence Around Hospital Security Measures Considered Impractical After 1994 Mellberg Shootings
Fairchild Air Force Base will fence in its hospital - where a crazed gunman went on a rampage last year - and two nearby housing areas.
The proposed $300,000 project is partly a concern for security and partly an attempt to improve the appearance of the base, Fairchild civil engineer Fred Zitterkopf said.
Although putting the hospital complex behind a gate and security fence was described as impractical after the 1994 shootings, base officials now say it’s in keeping with a new emphasis on security at federal facilities around the country.
The base will enclose some 300 acres, closing off parts of Graham and McFarlane roads with a 7-foot, barbed-wire-topped chain-link fence.
It will build a new gate and guardhouse on Graham, south of U.S. Highway 2, and widen the road to allow for traffic overflow.
The base hospital complex is across Graham Road from the current security fence.
The hospital complex was the site of Dean Mellberg’s shooting spree on June 20, 1994.
Armed with a semiautomatic assault rifle, the former airman killed his psychiatrist, psychologist and two bystanders. He also wounded 22 others, including a pregnant woman who eventually lost her unborn baby, before being killed by an Air Force security policeman.
After the tragedy, Fairchild officials were asked why the hospital wasn’t behind a security gate, as are most facilities on the base. Brig. Gen. Gary Voellger, the wing commander at the time, said that wasn’t practical because the hospital is heavily used by civilians and military personnel.
But Sgt. Sue Connard, a base spokeswoman, said Tuesday the military and civilian agencies are reassessing security in the wake of tragedies like the Mellberg shootings and the Oklahoma City bombing.
Anyone going to the hospital has an identification card that will permit passage through the security gate, Connard said. Had the gate been up 18 months ago, it wouldn’t have stopped Mellberg because he had a temporary ID card, she added.
The other reason for the project is aesthetics. Much of the existing fencing around housing units is old and rusting, Zitterkopf said. It will be removed.
Two housing units near the hospital are separated from the rest of the base, and the new fence will join them to the rest of Fairchild.
The base prepared an environmental assessment on the project and is accepting public comment for the next 30 days. The assessment can be obtained by calling the base Public Affairs Office at 247-5704.
, DataTimes