I can hear the grumblings around the firehouse table. The company officer tells the crew that the training topic for the day is hazmat. Eyes roll, heads hurt, and suddenly the momentum shifts to finding something, anything other than hazmat for the day’s training.
But training on hazardous materials does not have to be boring, mundane or death by PowerPoint. Using some simple methods, you can elevate your response and readiness to any hazmat incident. Each component can serve as a stand-alone training or combined into a larger exercise depending upon staffing, calls for service and, of course, time.
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Assess your hazmat capabilities
Before we dive into hazmat training itself, it’s important to first survey your hazmat capabilities and response. Every community has some potential and risk for a hazmat incident. It could come from a commercial vehicle carrying hazardous cargo, or it could be a company in your running district that uses hazardous chemicals or bulk storage in its manufacturing processes.
Whatever your unique situation, what is your department doing to prepare for an incident involving hazardous materials in your area? Does your organization have hazmat technicians? Do you have the resources necessary to mitigate a hazmat incident? What policies and procedures are in place?
Training should mirror established practices. So, take these training ideas and apply them to the level of operational readiness that you can realistically do, whether that is the awareness, operations or technician level.
Scene survey and site safety
A good drill to run with the company is to identify various target hazards within your running district. Do you have a water treatment plant nearby? What chemicals do they keep on site? Do you make interstate or highway responses? The options carried in commercial vehicles are endless. Do you cover a harbor or port? What is on the ships and vessels coming in and out? What about homes? Are they serviced by natural gas or propane? Are there pipelines in your community? How about rail lines?
Once you have those targets selected, you can use the Emergency Response Guidebook as a great training tool. Select a chemical and have your firefighters begin to profile it. From my experience, a lot of responders forget how to use the book, chiefly because we rarely train on it. The book gives broad guidance, albeit at an awareness level, on hazards based on container type or by a specific chemical. Did you know it also gives standoff distances for explosives, up to and including vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices?
Quiz your firefighters on protective actions, distances and immediate measures that can be taken if they were to respond to a hazmat incident. Create a simple tabletop exercise using pictures from the internet and placards. Do those actions change if the chemical release is involved in a fire? Wargame the response and discuss what capabilities and resources will be required.
PPE and protective measures
When was the last time you operated in a Level A suit? One of my favorite drills is to create a small obstacle course where technicians have to walk, climb stairs, duck under simulated pipes and maneuver around. Hand them two bolts and have them thread and unthread the hardware in a suit — that gets frustrating. You can also have them connect and disconnect hoses, turn valves and identify placards while in maximum protection. Use this opportunity to also test your communications and radios while operating at a hazmat incident.
What protection actually is necessary? Using the chemical profiling ideas mentioned before, have your firefighters determine what is the best protective equipment for the task. Is a Level A suit really the way to go, or can turnout gear suffice? Do we need an SCBA, or are we outside of IDLH values? Perhaps a canister or other respirator is a better option depending upon the work to be performed.
Decontamination zones
A great, and usually simple, drill is to refresh on the decon line. Set up the technical decon corridor with your company and a neighboring one. The decon process is usually labor-intensive, so integrating other companies is a good opportunity to work together. You can also dress out a firefighter or two and place “product” on them to clean. A favorite of mine is maple syrup and powdered sugar — how well does the decon line clean them?
What kind of decon is necessary? The decontamination for a small white powder scare is significantly different from that of a massive chemical leak. Hybrid decon, moving away from the traditional technical decon lines, is much more effective, depending on the hazard. Using positive-pressure fans on gases might be more advantageous than washing and rinsing.
Mass decontamination is still taught but likely is going to be ineffective in practice. Getting a lot of people to follow any direction is hard enough, let alone after a hazmat incident such as a large chemical release or explosion. However, it may be necessary to set up a mass-decon line at hospitals where victims will present to in the event of an attack or mass exposure. Do you have the resources to pull that off? How do you network with the hospital staff? Are they aware of your capabilities? Rest assured, whether your agency specializes in hazmat response or not, in the event of a large attack, your companies will be the new subject matter experts instantly.
Meters and monitors
Another useful drill is to simply pick a meter and dive into it. The end user, the firefighter, has to know how to use the tools you put into their hands. Whether it is a simple four- or five-gas monitor or a sensitive radiation instrument, the firefighter should know its capabilities and functions.
How does the meter turn on? What does it register? Are there limits to its functions, such as heat, cold or upper limits? When does it alarm and what do the alarms mean?
My agency, like yours, I’m sure, responds to a fair number of carbon monoxide alarm calls. It pains me to watch firefighters walk through the structure and wave the meter around like a magic wand.
It takes time for the meter to draw a sample of air, process it and give a readout. Some chemicals are heavier and lighter than air, meaning that you should sample a building low toward the floor, in the middle where you are and then high toward the ceiling.
It may be the job of the hazmat company to use these devices, or it may be yours. In my agency, we have a hazmat unit, and our technicians are very skilled. However, all of our firefighters are also technicians, meaning that any of them can be asked at any time to suit up and go downrange. Knowing how the instruments work and what they mean is essential to effective operations.
Command and strategic decision-making
A final drill is to wargame an incident from the strategic point of view. As officers, we should constantly be training our replacements. Throw out a scenario — a train derailment with fire involvement is a favorite of mine — and have your firefighters list what is needed to mitigate the incident. Have your firefighters draw out an incident command system, establish branches and begin collecting information for decision-making. Such information may include weather reports, SDS sheets or other data. I use Google Maps and have firefighters establish a shelter-in-place corridor.
What other resources will you need? Do you evacuate or shelter-in-place? If you evacuate, who coordinates that? Can you reverse 911 the area? Have you considered a liaison between the railroad, Department of Transportation and other stakeholders? Is there a reunification center for those who are affected? What other agencies would be responding?
Each of these drills can stand on its own as a simple 30- to 60-minute drill, or they can be combined as components of a larger exercise.
Final thoughts
Every community has a hazmat risk, and as such should train and prepare their responders to face such threats. The key is to know your own capabilities and response resources before trying to tackle something that is out of your control. Training on radiation detection is of little value if you have no radiological meters.
When the tones drop, we must respond with professionalism and work to solve problems as a collective group. So, keep training, even on the lesser-used skill sets like hazmat. It is just as important as the engine or truck work. Remember, the lesser-used skills perish the fastest, so stay ready.
