By Christopher Tantlinger
Whether you’re a new firefighter or one who’s long in the tooth and probably knows just enough about the things that can kill you, you need to keep a continuous focus on the fundamentals, and that includes understanding hazardous materials response. We learned the alphabet as a kid, and maybe even put a few words together throughout our life and figured our way through basic fire training. While we may be more attentive to skills like stretching lines, ventilation, and search, the fact remains that hazardous materials calls loom like a dirty, fire-breathing dragon to kill the complacent and those who think they know enough. Although our encounters with hazmat may be relatively rare, we need to always be ready. That readiness should be as easy as remembering your ABCs.
Humpday Hangout: Hazmat and the Company Officer
Benjamin Franklin used the same ABCs we use today, and he basically created response considerations for fire and hazmat. We are all familiar with the Union Fire Department and Ben’s Bucket Brigade, which marked the development of the fire service in Philadelphia around 1836. Then, with his understanding of blood-borne pathogens (a hazardous material classification today), he established the Pennsylvania Hospital in 1751, the first such organized hospital in the colonies, cultivating the notion of protecting lives and property as a mission worth pursuing. When Edwin Drake drilled that famous well in 1859, leading to the exploration and development of petroleum in Oil City, Pennsylvania, this in turn spurred major changes in American society. The innovations of steel-making in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania—which became the world’s largest steel producer in 1875—used fire and chemistry to usher in the industrial age. After nearly 100 years of evolving technology, the 1979 response to Three Mile Island underscored requirements for radiological hazmat emergency response. The first hazmat team is reported to have started formal response in Jacksonville, Florida, that same year. Hazmat is a significant part of our history, but it has only been a part of the formal fire service the last 40 years.
So, what do we really know about hazmat? Ask yourself: Do you really care? Should you? Why?
For starters, yes, you should, because as an all-hazard responder, the dangers of hazmat are always lurking and imminent and can prove fatal to the unwary.
The following National Library of Medicine PubMed had this to say about responders to hazmat incidents in its August 1, 2017 publication research reference for the years 2002-2012.
Results: The percentage of responders among all injured people in chemical incidents has not changed over the years. Firefighters were the most frequently injured group of responders, followed by police officers. Respiratory system problems were the most often reported injury, and the respiratory irritants, ammonia, methamphetamine-related chemicals, and carbon monoxide were the chemicals more often associated with injuries. Most of the incidents with responder injuries were caused by human error or equipment failure. Firefighters wore personal protective equipment (PPE) most frequently and police officers did so rarely. Police officers’ injuries were mostly associated with exposure to ammonia and methamphetamine-related chemicals. Most responders did not receive basic awareness-level hazardous material training.
Conclusion: All responders should have at least basic operations-level hazardous material training to recognize and avoid exposure. Research on improving firefighter PPE should continue. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;12:211-221).
The tenets of fire and hazmat are the same. If we look at a hazmat scene like we look at a fire scene, we have these basic considerations…
| FIRE SCENE | HAZMAT SCENE |
| Combustion of materials | Combustible atmospheres |
| Ventilation is initiated to reduce heat and neutralize the atmosphere of the fire | Neutralization reduces reactions and stabilizes the atmosphere |
| Suppression to stop/slow the fire | Mitigation to stop/slow runaway reactions |
In each instance, our mission is to make things better as expeditiously as possible.
This is where we get into the ABCs. The efforts of fire response are the same when considering a hazardous materials potential.
Read these following objectives, the ABCs of response, and then replace the word “hazmat” with “fire” below.
- Gain assessment techniques to initiate the hazmat response.
- Determine where you should be in a hazmat response.
- Understand how to gain hazmat scene confidence.
- Develop decision making tools to control the hazmat.
- Examine and evaluate a hazmat engagement.
- Formulate a hazmat strategy, tactic, and operational hammer.
- Gain perspective of the hazmat scene (“HazSense,” akin to firefighters’ “firesense”).
The above listed objectives are initiated at every fire scene and are the parallel functions of a hazmat response.
The ABCs of hazmat response, therefore, are the ABCs of a fire response. A simple comparison of these principles by someone who is a firefighter can quickly and accurately determine and draw upon decision-making skills that make sense and then give you a sense of what may reach out and kill you. A hazmat sense, or “HazSense” as it is called in the hazmat response circles, can be a very easy way to understand hazardous materials responses.
We learn our ABCs to learn to, communicate, and solve issues with a combination of 26 letters. A hazmat call is no different than a fire call. it’s just a matter of how we put those same 26 letters together to understand the danger that could reach out and kill us if we don’t recognize its potential.
Every firefighter, emergency medical, and law enforcement responder needs to gain a greater comprehension of a potential hazardous materials response, even if they don’t want to be a hazmat responder. The unique situations presented by hazmat responses can be broken down into action steps for every responder, new or old, whether they have in-depth hazmat knowledge or not. Enhancing your basic critical-thinking skills will prepare you.
When you recognize that EVERY CALL could have a hazmat element and compare it to what your related fire service training tells you could very well keep you from becoming a statistic. Just remember your ABCDEFGHAZMAT sense and you will have a fighting chance.
Christopher Tantlinger is the hazmat chief and deput emergency management coordinator for the Westmoreland County (PA) Department of Public Safety. He has 30 years of service as a volunteer firefighter and 18 years as a hazmat team leader.
