BY JODY W. CARTER, BS, NREMT-P
Two veterans of the regional haz-mat team enter the kitchen of a neighboring department’s station for a white powder incident. An unexpected pizza delivery at lunchtime turned out to be a dispersal device for deadly anthrax spores targeted directly at the responders. As the team performs a methodical room search for secondary devices, one of its monitors alarms for a mustard agent. Fortunately, this is a training session being facilitated by Domestic Preparedness Equipment Technical Assistance Program (DPETAP) instructors, who are helping this fire department to answer the question, “What if?”
The team is receiving this training free of charge through the DPETAP. The program is funded by the Office of Domestic Preparedness (ODP) and administered by General Physics Corp. The customized training is given within the department’s jurisdiction and is scheduled at the department’s convenience. This training may be hosted by any jurisdiction eligible to receive ODP grant funding, which includes fire, EMS, and law enforcement communities. The host department may decide who should attend; responders from neighboring organizations are often invited to participate. This training does not cost the department anything other than the students’ time in class. If the class is scheduled while the responders are already on duty, this cost could be negated as well.
The program includes courses covering detection technologies, personal protective equipment, mass-casualty decontamination procedures, and radiological equipment. The courses focus on the needs of the agency and do not promote any manufacturer or vendor products.
More than 36,000 responders have been trained at more than 625 jurisdictions nationwide since the program’s first training course in September 2000 through June 2004. “It is programs such as these that allow our cities the necessary protection for our first responders and strengthen our overall Homeland Security plans,” wrote Richard Fontana Jr. of the West Haven (CT) Fire Department about recent DPETAP training sessions.
 (1) Students learn the proper use and maintenance of detection equipment during a DPETAP training session. (Photo by Tommy Kelly.) |
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 (2) DPETAP instructor training on the APD2000 and Ludlum scintillator. (Photo by Kim Gaskill.) |
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WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION DETECTION
The detection technology courses make up the bulk of the offerings, with chemical, biological, and radiological equipment as the focus. After a four-hour overview of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and detection principles is taught, specific detection equipment is introduced. Students are taught how to operate the devices—not just which buttons to push but also the “how” and “why” of the technology. This gives the operators a deeper appreciation of the equipment’s function and purpose.
The capabilities and limitations of the equipment are objectively spelled out so responders know the strong and weak points of each device. Employing hands-on training, attendees are shown, through the use of simulants, how the devices look and sound when alarming. If the equipment can be calibrated, all students get an opportunity to practice that function.
Several warnings and cautions are explained to keep the responders from harming themselves or their equipment during a response. Because students are often on-duty during the training sessions, taking equipment out of service for training could leave an apparatus unequipped for a call. To counter this, all DPETAP courses are fully supplied with enough equipment to give all students an opportunity for hands-on practice.
Some jurisdictions are interested in even more in-depth WMD training; therefore, an eight-hour Advanced WMD course is also offered.
 (3) The hands-on portion of the DPETAP PPE program includes entry into a simulated hazardous environment for detection and identification of hazards. (Photo by author.) |
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PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT
Using the detection equipment during an actual response will involve entering a potentially hazardous environment. Accor-dingly, another component of the DPETAP program is personal protective equipment (PPE) training. Because the PPE training does not always immediately follow a detection course, material taught in the prior courses is reviewed.
The three-day PPE course begins with a four-hour course on chemical, biological, and radiological threats and includes visual and odor simulants of WMD agents. The components of chemical protective equipment—masks, air bottles, suits, boots and gloves, and when to deploy them—are explained.
Environmental, safety, and medical considerations for properly using the equipment are stressed as well. An overview of proper operations in contaminated areas addresses medical monitoring, entering and exiting the hot zone, remediation techniques, and proper donning and doffing of the PPE.
Specific monitoring equipment owned by the agency is reviewed for operation and alarm recognition to reinforce prior learning.
Finally, all of the pieces are put together in a full-day response mock-up in which students recon a scene, use the detection equipment to determine the hazards present, and remediate the event—all while wearing the appropriate levels of PPE.
Safety is of the utmost importance during class and in the field; certified EMTs are present throughout the training.
 (4) A student in the mass-casualty decontamination course experiences copious amounts of water. (Photo by Kim Gaskill). |
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DECONTAMINATION
Anytime PPE is used during an incident, decontamination is a mandated part of the scene. Additionally, if a large-scale WMD incident should occur, decontaminating large numbers of victims will have to be considered. To address these mass-casualty decontamination operations, a 24-hour mass-casualty decontamination course is offered in the DPETAP training curricula. In addition to the information offered in other DPETAP WMD courses, this course also features audiovisual technologies, the actual setting up of a decontamination corridor, hot line operations, collecting rinse runoff, and victim triage while wearing PPE. Real-world procedures are explained and demonstrated; the focus is on the first 15 minutes of the decontamination proceedings. Again, a hands-on learning approach reinforces the classroom learning.
Tabletop exercises, ranging from subway attacks to interstate events or air incidents, are available. These low-stress sessions are highly effective and can be directly related to the department’s response plans.
Finally, students perform in four decontamination situations to put together all of the lessons from the previous day’s learning. Making triage decisions, handling ambulatory and nonambulatory victims, operating the equipment, dealing with bystanders and media, and various components of the incident command system are all addressed during these realistic scenarios.
RADIOLOGICAL DETECTION
Regardless of the on-scene indicators of chemical or biological incidents, the only way to be aware of radiological hazards is through detection equipment. The Home-land Defense Equipment Reuse (HDER) program is the training mechanism for becoming acquainted with advanced radiological detection technologies and techniques. This 20-hour hands-on course comprises an overview of radiation and its effects on the body, how to choose an appropriate radiological monitor, and proper surveying techniques for that monitor. Equipment used in the jurisdiction is featured. The different detectors include ionization chambers, Geiger-Mueller detectors, and scintillation detectors. All of these components are combined into a four-hour series of hands-on practical exercises. This program is intended for the leadership and cadre of all-response community agencies—emergency management, fire/haz mat, law enforcement, and EMS personnel—in metropolitan jurisdictions that have obtained equipment through the HDER program.
To request training, contact Tonya Smith at tsmith2@gpworldwide.com. You will be sent the appropriate application and information forms. For some courses, such as PPE and mass-casualty decontamination, attendance is limited to 16 students because of the practical exercises. Training schedules will be flexible and based on the department’s needs. Training around a 24- and 48-hour work schedule can be accommodated, as can day and night shifts.
JODY W. CARTER, BS, NREMT-P, is an emergency preparedness specialist/paramedic with General Physics Corporation in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He is a paramedic for MedTran Ambulance in Benton, Arkansas, and a volunteer fire captain for the Alexander (AR) Fire Department. He previously was a chemist in a chemical agent laboratory working with sarin, mustard, and VX on a daily basis. He is working toward a master’s degree in emergency management through Jacksonville State University.
