WHAT IF…?
BY EUGENE D. RYAN
Envision the following scenario: Two of your personnel are performing mitigation tasks in the hot zone. One member is five feet, 10 inches tall and weighs 200 pounds; the other is six feet tall and weighs 275 pounds. During the operation, the lighter of the responders performs the international hand signal for distress. On further observation, you see that the heavier member is lying facedown. How would you respond? Do you have anything in writing to guide you? Do your standard operating procedures cover this type of emergency? I am willing to bet most you will say the proper response should be, “When a team of two goes in, there will be a team of two to back it up.”
Let`s think about this scenario: You have a person fully encapsulated in a Level “A” suit; you need to perform a rescue and an emergency decontamination. Are two backup personnel adequate? Is your team prepared for this scenario? How many teams actually have practiced recovering one of their team members who is fully encapsulated? Those of you who haven`t will find it is like trying to pick up a pig covered with mud.
I`m sure many of you are thinking, “Wait a minute…This person weighs 275 pounds. Are we really going to be able to lift him?”
How many of you picture this scenario as taking place on a flat surface? Imagine instead that the scenario is occurring on top of a pressurized rail car, in a confined space, or belowgrade.
Some of you may be thinking it would be a good idea to bring in a crane or hoist. Others may suggest rolling the downed encapsulated member like a drum or dragging him out in a salvage cover.
The prevailing response would be to follow what is written in your standard operating procedures, but how many departments have a written procedure on this type of emergency and practice it regularly? I am willing to bet that most do not.
The first important question to ask is, Do you have the apparatus, properly trained personnel, and equipment required to make the rescue? If the answer is no, other questions must be raised: Who will assist you? Where will you get the needed apparatus and equipment? Do you have a plan?
Hazardous-materials emergency response operations often are prioritized according to the nature of the life-threatening emergency. First, we seek to protect the public, then we try to protect the environment. We weigh the risks associated with the situation against the tasks to be accomplished. In this delicate balance, we often forget to consider our own personal safety.
The risk analysis and emergency response guidelines begin to prepare us for the norm within our community. As emergency responders, however, we must also be prepared for the tricks “the beast” may unleash. By this, I mean that in each scenario, hazardous-materials emergency responders must use the same common sense and safety practices used in firefighting. We must be able to adapt to the level of the incident. Our safety plans, therefore, should include a “what if” for the particular incident, and each responding team member should be briefed on his part in the plan. This can be a time-consuming and demanding process to undertake while the incident is taking place. Often, we accept a higher level of risk than necessary. Our assumptions in many cases are based on factors that are out of our control.
In firefighting, we learn to look before we enter into a situation. We size up, plan the response, implement the plan, and function safely. In hazardous-materials mitigation, we often do not have the history of multiple experiences to draw on, as we do in firefighting. Therefore, we are quick to let “the beast” guide us. We allow inexperience to draw us into potentially dangerous situations.
Fire departments–paid or volunteer, large or small–will be called on to respond to hazardous-materials incidents. If your department commits personnel to work in a hot zone in Level “A” suits, it is essential to plan for the “what if” in any related emergency situation. Their lives are worth the extra effort. n
