HAZMAT - 1st Due & Starting a Hazmat Team

“HAZMAT” – that’s a word that excites one group of firefighters and scares others right down to the bone. And rightly, it should scare everyone…at least a little bit! Hazmat situations very greatly by community, county and state. In one area, an overturned jug of chlorine on a pool-cleaner’s trailer is quickly treated by a single engine company. Yet in another locale, the same spill with require a full Hazmat team response, even if it is part of a regional, as opposed to local, Hazmat team. Many will ask, “Why?”

My guest on this episode of “5-Alarm Task Force,” is Bill Miller who is an Engineer/Paramedic and Deputy Special Ops Coordinator for the Ft. Myers Fire Department. Bill heads up the Hazmat team and explains two key points in this podcast:
1. Most often, the first due/arriving apparatus at a Hazmat call will NOT be the Hazmat Unit, whether it’s local or regional! What can that first apparatus do?
2. How to start a Hazmat team in more than name only!

Bill addresses these two points and explains just how helpful that first due crew can be, as long as they know what to do and what not to do. In the second segment, Bill provides basic information if you are thinking of creating a Hazmat unit, whether within your own department or on a regional/auto-aid basis.

For many of us, today’s firefighting situations are nothing like we faced in our day. Yet, we have great firefighters, instructors, leaders, etc., who understand exactly what we face today and keep abreast of the best means to mitigate these issues. A specialty team like Hazmat is integral to today’s fire service and Bill helps you through some of the initial steps that you must consider when putting a team together!

Stay Safe & Stay Well!