A's fans unknowingly pass scientists' sniff test

By Ian Hoffman / www.insidebayarea.com | August 17 2006

As fans marched into McAfee Coliseum to see the Oakland A's play the Detroit Tigers and the Los Angeles Angels, scientists working for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security were sniffing them — their popcorn, their cigars, hairspray and after-shave.

The scientists, sent from Sandia National Laboratories, wondered whether they could catch a whiff of a terrorist chemical attack in this morass of smells.

Their conclusion: Athletics' fans might be among the baseball's rowdiest, but they're a pretty clean bunch and so is their stadium, or at least neither is lethally bad smelling.

Sandia's chemical engineers had feared worse, especially for a stadium in the heart of an industrial neighborhood with Interstate 880 next-door. Enough ambient odors and chemicalscould swamp or confuse detectors tuned to sniff out sarin and VX gas at concentrations down to the parts per trillion. As molecules, garden pesticides are near twins to deadly poisons.

"We were very pleased with the background at the coliseum," said Ben Wu, project manager for Sandia's "rapidly deployable chemical detection system."

"It was very clean based on what we were expecting."

He led a half-dozen Sandians who set up shop inside the stadium's control center from late June into early July and put out a network of eight sensor boxes, each containing eight different chemical detectors with a surveillance camera keeping watch from a pole overhead.

The scientists tried a similar system at San Francisco International two years ago. Indoor spaces can concentrate smells and chemicals, such as floor waxes and cleansers.

But Homeland Security officials were keen to learn about open-air venues, especially those used for national security "special events" such as the Super Bowl and the Olympics. In a few years, they want to hone the system into a network of chemical sensors that require no more attention than a home smoke detector but could sniff an industrial toxin or nerve gas in time to evacuate thousands of spectators.

The Oakland Athletics'

Dave Rinetti was happy to oblige.

"It was something to help them better their systems, so I was all for it," said Rinetti, the club's vice president for stadium operations.

The scientists moved in just as the Arizona Diamondbacks came to town and the A's fortunes sagged — three losses in a row. Rinetti looked over at the scientists and threatened to revoke their invitation.

The scientists kept their heads down, and the A's recovered, trouncing the Tigers and Angels to take over the lead in the American League West.

"They weren't a complete jinx," Rinetti conceded.

Wu and the Sandians found that A's fans carry a zoo of chemicals, but all fleeting and innocuous. The scientists successfully trained a computer to ignore them.

"When they pop up, I can't tell you whether it's Chanel No. 5 or Old Spice," said Wu, who, incidentally, became an A's fan during the assignment.

So what does the homeland security experiment say about A's ticketholders?

"There's nothing out of the ordinary about our fans," Rinetti suggested.

Tougher venues await the scientists. Next week, their sensor network will be tested against live chemical poisons at the Nevada Test Site, in an outdoor release. Details, according to Wu, are classified.

The Sandians also want to sniff around a few rock concerts in the neighboring arena and perhaps a few Raiders games.

"Speculatively, I don't see too much different," he said. "But I don't know what they have in all that make-up."

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