Systematic Haz-Mat Response
TRAINING NOTEBOOK
Ready or not, fire departments are being called on to respond to hazardous materials incidents. The key to getting ready is a systematic approach that involves six elements.
Before you start, search your ranks. Members who have worked with chemicals or are schooled in chemistry are your best bet. Understanding technical data such as vapor density, specific gravity, flammable limit, flammable range, pH, and threshold limit value will be useful in interpreting material data safety sheets and information from the manufacturer or shipper of a chemical.
After recruiting the most knowledgeable people for your haz-mat force, follow through on each of the elements of the systematic approach.
- Education and training. To handle a haz-mat incident safely and effectively, you must have some knowledge of what haz mats are and what may happen if they’re leaking, burning, or mixing with other materials. Whether you select a special team or educate your entire department to handle haz mats, the members must be adequately trained.
- Special gear, equipment, and supplies. A full set of protective clothing—including coat and pants lined with a vapor shield, helmet, gloves, and positive-pressure, self-contained breathing apparatus—is a good start. Additional levels of protective clothing will be needed, depending on the nature of the incident. No haz mat leaking, spilled, or on fire should ever be approached without the proper and compatible level of full protective clothing.
A minimum of 40 hours of training— including both classroom and handson types—should be required. Locallevel, in-house training is a good start; professionally taught classes are better; one week spent at Texas A&M University’s Hazardous Materials Training School or the National Fire Academy is the ultimate.
First and foremost is learning to identify the haz mat and the quantity involved. From that information, all subsequent decisions will be made. Teach your people how to get that data from placards, labels, shipping papers, containers, identification numbers, the shipper or manufacturer, and the driver.
Consistent follow-up training, drills, lectures, and demonstrations are also essential to maintaining readiness. Simulation exercises based on incidents that could occur in your fire protection district, videotaped and then critiqued, are an excellent training aid.
Toxicological suits, encapsulated or nonencapsulated, are needed for protection against corrosives, poisons, etiological agents, gases, certain oxidizers, and organic peroxides. The suits’ effectiveness varies, and the resistance to chemicals is based on the material of which the suit is constructed; no one suit will withstand every chemical.
Fire departments will also need special equipment:
- A combustible-gas detector. Many types are available, from the squeeze bulb-type to more sophisticated electronic detectors. These are a must if
- you’re to determine whether a leak has the potential for fire and explosion.
- Explosion-proof flashlights. Issue these to all members who will be directly involved with handling haz mats. A regular flashlight dropped in a flammable gas or liquid could be the last light you’ll ever see on this earth.
- Absorbent materials. Oil Dri, Absorbol, fuller’s earth, and the like are excellent for absorbing or containing a leaking product. These products won’t burn, because they’re inert substances. Never use sawdust, because it’s a Class A combustible and will burn.
A good way to store absorbent materials for handling and distribution is in empty, two-liter, plastic soft drink bottles or empty, five-gallon, plastic or fiberboard cartons. Of course, the 80pound sacks in which Absorbol comes are also fine if you have the room to store them on your apparatus.
Absorbent pads, pillows, pigs, and rolls are also available and do an excellent job for containment. Most will absorb the product but not water. Granulated absorbent material also comes in handy at a motor vehicle accident to absorb transmission or brake fluid, oil, or fuel on the road.
- Emulsifiers, foams, and soda ash. An emulsifier is a detergent that chemically and organically mixes with and breaks down hydrocarbons such as gasoline, diesel fuel, aviation fuel, and grease.
- Wooden and rubber plugs, patching material, leak kits, recovery drums,
- nonarcing tools, and reference materials. Having these items available at the scene will help a fire department contain and control a haz-mat incident until additional help arrives.
Firefighting foams are a very special item and should be purchased based on need. A decision about type and quantity should be made only after a needs assessment done in consultation with a foam engineer.
Soda ash for neutralizing acid spills should also be on hand.
A common communications link is desirable but not always available. Dispatch centers with multifrequency radio capability might assist you while you’re working with a backup team.
Private, licensed clean-up contractors are most prevalent. A firm may be directed to do the clean-up and disposal by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a state department of environmental resources, or the company whose material is involved in the incident.
Whether you bring the incident to a successful conclusion or allow it to go on to become a disaster will be determined by how well you and your department are prepared. Develop your plans now!
