Hazmat

Welcome to the Hazardous Materials/WMD re-certification for 2024

The objectives of this refresher training are to review the following items as they relate to hazardous materials/WMD response: Basic hazard and risk assessment techniques, PPE selection, basic terminology, initial response operations, basic decontamination.  After a review of the material contained herein, personnel will be expected to take and pass an exam to an accuracy of at least 80%.

Some hazmat incidents are common, like carbon monoxide, fuel spills, mercury spills and other relatively straightforward incidents.  However, given the presence of multiple interstate roadways, industry, and heavy rail lines, the potential for MCFRS personnel to face complex hazardous material incidents is real.  Personnel must be prepared to successfully negotiate the first 20-30 minutes of hazardous materials events.

Let's spend a minute talking through some basic expectations for how we approach hazardous materials events.  As first responders to hazardous materials situations you are trained to the "Operations" level, which means that you can take defensive measures only.

Using the A.C.R.E. objectives is still a good starting point for all hazmat incidents:

1. Assess

   1. Assess the scene.

   2. Determine the most appropriate travel routes and staging areas.

   3. Collect hazard information-shipper/manufacturer/carrier documents, including shipping papers with emergency response information and shipper/ manufacturer/carrier contacts

   4. Identify hazards

      • Identify methods of harm

      • Predict likely behavior of products involved

      • Predict likely paths of travel

2. Control

   1. Isolate and deny entry

   2. Control hazards

3. Rescue

   1. Separate people from hazards

4. Evacuate

   1. Remove victim(s) to safety.

Time: 1900 hours

Weather: Overcast with intermittent drizzle. Warm and humid.

Situation: One aerial and one hazmat unit are dispatched for a hazmat investigation at 1234 Example Way.  According to the incident remarks, the homeowner reported a chemical leak in her basement.  She believes the leak is coming from an old refrigerator stored in the basement.

On arrival the aerial officer makes contact with the caller.  The home is a single family detached dwelling with an exposure on Side Bravo about 100 yards from the dispatched address. 

The occupant describes the odor as "foul" but cannot provide any additional information.  She advises the crews that she feels fine and that there is nobody else in the house.

Exercise: Consider the scenario as provided to you. There is no additional information to be had.  Once you have thought things through, answer the following questions.

1. What is the scope of the problem? How did you determine that?

2. What are the potential hazards, and potential outcomes? How did you determine that?

3. What is your initial action plan?

   • What are your objectives?

   • What options do you have available to you?

   • Do you have appropriate PPE?

   • What kind of decontamination would you use?

   • What sorts of things can you do to ensure the safety of your crew?

This is an interesting question mostly because the answer depends deeply on your personal experience level.

The occupant is reporting that there is an old refrigerator leaking and that there is a "foul" odor associated with the leak.  If you have experience with old (really old) refrigerators, this information will narrow down the possibilities. There were three common chemicals used as refrigerants in old refrigerators: methyl chloride (essentially odorless), ammonia (distinct odor), and sulfur dioxide (profoundly foul odor).  But without this information you would not be able to reasonably determine the scope of the problem.

You can answer this question, even with no experience at all.  You know that whatever is leaking has the potential to cause harm and that the harm will likely be in one of the following forms:

• Uncontrolled release of energy as heat, light, or electricity

• Chemical reactivity

• Oxygen consumption or displacement

Further, you know, as part of your most basic training, that your firefighting PPE only provides limited protection against those three broad hazards.  Therefore, it is safe to assume that close interaction with the environment will bring you into close contact with one of those hazards and the potential outcomes are severe injury, death, and extensive property loss.

You also know that while all three of these hazards can be present, none of them has yet caused harm, at least as far as you can determine.

Given the small amount of information available, it may seem hard to develop a plan BUT if you consider this incident within the framework of the incident response policy and A.C.R.E., a plan starts to materialize.

Incident Priorities: Life Safety | Incident Stabilization | Property Conservation

At this point, life safety is handled.  Everyone, including both the response crews and the occupant, are accounted for and safe.  It is not possible to determine if the leak is stable, but from all appearances the incident is stable.  While the appliance might still be leaking inside the structure, there are relatively clear boundaries around the problem; it is contained to a single structure.  Property conservation will have to wait until later in the incident when more capabilities are present. 

Incident Objectives: A.C.R.E. Using the A.C.R.E. framework, we quickly realize that there are no rescues or evacuations. Our objectives focus us on assessment and the control of hazards. 

Strategy: The strategy is defensive.  According to the IRP, "A defensive strategy is where personnel decide that the best course of action is to contain the problem."  In this case, the structure itself is containment. 

Assess Objective: Conducting an assessment is an objective. You can conduct a limited assessment from outside the structure. This would primarily involve careful interviewing of the occupant and perhaps some quick web searches on old refrigerators using the apparatus phones. 

Control Objective: You can't even begin to directly address the problem. Your best method of hazard control is establishing and maintaining isolation zones around the structure (isolate and deny entry). 

Decontamination. You can't know the best decontamination method to use without knowing what the chemical hazard is, BUT you do know that there are two quick and dirty options for initiating decontamination:

• The removal of the outer layer of clothing.

• The use of LOW-PRESSURE water to rinse off contamination.

Safety. Crew safety is based on the potential hazards. Thinking about it in terms of time, distance, and shielding might be useful.  For example, when it comes to uncontrolled releases of energy, distance and shielding are important.  So, you would create isolation zones, keep crews from being directly in front of the structure, and perhaps stage behind apparatus.  In terms of chemical reactivity and oxygen depletion, distance is the ticket to safety.

There is no need for firefighter PPE or SCBA because there is no reason to leave the cold zone.

More on the Assess Objective:

Would your multi-sensor Ventis Pro meters be of any use to you during this event? If so:

• Which sensor(s) would be the most important to pay attention to?

  • Yes. The three-sensor configuration on our Ventis Pro meters can give you some information.  First think “FAT”.  The meter tells you about three primary hazards:

    • Flammability (of concern here of course)

    • Asphyxiation

    • Toxicity (of concern, but the meter only directly measures CO toxicity which is not a primary concern for this incident.)

  • So the sensor we would be most concerned with is the flammability/LEL sensor.

• How high off of the ground would you hold your sensor and why?

  • Start with your sensor at waist level.  This will tell you if you are already surrounded by flammable vapors.  If you get a reading at waist level then TURN AROUND.

  • If you don't get a reading at waist level, then lower the meter to the ground and take readings there.  Because you don’t know what you are measuring any reading on LEL is an indication to immediately leave the area.

• What sort of changes would you need to see on your sensors to make you turn around?

  • Changes in LEL indicate the presence of an unknown flammability hazard.  This should be an immediate turn around/move back.  Please remember that your LEL sensor really struggles with "seeing" long chain hydrocarbons like gasoline and diesel fuel (fuel oil).  If you see LEL levels increasing while measuring long chain hydrocarbons, the actual LEL is likely much higher than the screen readout.

  • Changes in CO sensors indicate a change that is very significant because the most common interfering gases are lighter than air.  If you are getting a reading at waist level, that indicates that you are in a cloud of something.

Time: 1900 hours

Weather: Cool and dry.

Situation:

• One aerial and one hazmat unit are dispatched for a hazmat investigation at: 234 Another Example Way.  According to the incident remarks, the homeowner reports a heating oil spill in her basement.

• On arrival the aerial officer makes contact with the caller. The home is a single family detached dwelling with exposures on Side Bravo and Delta-about 20 yards from the dispatched address.

• The occupant says that the heating oil company was filling the tank in her basement.  After the technician left, the homeowner went to the basement to find about an inch of oil all over the basement floor.

• You found the occupant outside and she advises that there is no one else in the structure.