Fire departments have been responding to hazmat-related emergencies since perhaps the fire service was founded. At one time, natural gas/propane leaks, gasoline spills and many other chemical-related emergencies always resulted in the dispatch of firefighters. We may not have called those who responded “hazmat units” at the time, but if the incidents impacted public safety, there was a good chance that firefighters were on scene, doing their best to mitigate the situation.
In 1990, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) adopted a standard that defined a more professional level of response to these types of incidents: 29CFR1910.120, better known as the Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) standard. Paragraph q of this standard specifically addressed emergency response; the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) then adopted parallel language, as it was the enforcing agency in areas where OSHA did not have jurisdiction.
As a result of this development, fire departments were suddenly faced with a question: Did they want to provide Awareness-, Operational- or Technician-level training and response?
Since that time, a lot of useful training has been provided to firefighters to help them meet the OSHA and EPA requirements. Most departments I’m familiar with today have decided to train and equip most of their personnel to the Operational level. This allows them to approach a hazmat incident in a defensive fashion, to not enter the “hot zone” and to conduct operations to contain or control the incident without coming in direct contact with the materials or their vapors. The efforts of these personnel help keep the problem from expanding while they await either hazmat technicians or a clean-up crew. But for crews to perform the Operational function well, they need to have the right tools available to them.
Resources to Get You Started
The first tools you’ll need will be resource materials to help you understand what you’re dealing with. If you have a computer in your apparatus, the first thing you want to access is the Department of Transportation’s Emergency Response Guide (ERG), which can be found at www.phmsa.dot.gov/hazmat/library/erg. This book is not intended to provide all the details on what should be done for all chemicals, but it’s a good starting point. It categorizes most hazardous materials and gives
- General information on the primary (and sometimes secondary) hazards of the material;
- Guidelines on initial actions to be taken;
- Information on general protective clothing in case of release; and
- Guidelines on initial evacuation distances where appropriate.
Important: Chemicals are listed in the book by their actual chemical name, not their trade name. Many products are sold by their trade name, and may have several different hazardous chemical ingredients.
Note: Free hard copies are normally available through your county or state emergency management team, and the current edition is now the 2012 ERG.
The WISER system is also available online at http://wiser.nlm.nih.gov/about.html, and provides a medical-focused database on a number of common chemicals. The NIOSH pocket guide is a good reference as well, and copies of the CD-ROM can be ordered free at www.cdc.gov/niosh/npg/. There are many other resources available, but this is enough to get you started at little to no cost.
Of course, ask at the scene if a material safety data sheet is available for the involved chemical(s), and assign a knowledgeable responder to review the information.
Size-Up Tools
Along with resource materials, you’ll need some tools to help assess the situation. The first tool you should be carrying is a set of binoculars so that you can size up the situation from a distance. Another useful tool is some sort of air-monitoring equipment, preferably to test for O2 levels, at the very least, and flammable gases. Tip: If you purchase a meter, ensure that it’s calibrated on a schedule recommended by the meter manufacturer so you can rely on the readings it provides when you need it. Additionally, spend some time training on how to use the meter, and what the readings actually mean.
If you have a thermal imager, it can potentially be used to locate and/or view spills or leaks, or levels of contents in containers. A pack of pH paper, which helps determine the acidity or basicity of a chemical or solution, will help responders obtain information on the hazards of an unknown liquid, or run-off from water spray used to knock down vapors from a spill or leak. Tip: Tape the paper to a pike pole to keep some distance from the material, or drop the paper into the material (it will blow around if it’s windy). There are some fancier tools out there to test unknown liquids, but generally, they’re a lot more expensive.
Caution: Always exercise extreme caution when dealing with hazardous materials and/or unknown chemicals. When using pH paper to gather information, always remember to wear the appropriate level of PPE/respiratory protection and approach the material or area from the uphill/upwind side.
Equipment for Action
After assessing a hazard, it’s time to take some action. The equipment that we’ve discussed so far takes up very little space on an apparatus; however, if you wind up procuring a lot of stuff to deal with hazmat situations, you’ll find yourself either needing to free up compartment space to make it all fit or, worse yet, buying a separate piece of apparatus to haul it all around.
Before buying equipment, see what you might have now that can pull double duty as hazmat equipment. This is even more important if the hazmat calls you get are few and far between. Breathing apparatus is certainly as useful for a hazmat call as it is for a fire–just be sure to stay out of vapor clouds. Remember: Firefighting gear generally provides little or no protection against hazardous materials, and you need to stay out of the stuff anyway.
Other equipment that may be able to pull double duty includes ladders and salvage tarps, which can be easily fashioned into a catch-all or decontamination pool, although they may be a bit difficult to step into. To contain leaks, one good investment is a pop-up vinyl/plastic pool that holds more than 55 gallons. It can be rapidly deployed under a leak until assistance is obtained to patch the leak or remove the product, and many pools fold up into a relatively small size for storage until needed.
A charged hoseline with a blind cap at the end (and a shut valve at the other end, once the line is charged) can be used to create a temporary dike, if nothing else is available. Other diking equipment options:
- Oil dry/kitty litter or plain, old dirt dug up from the area might also work as a temporary dike. But you’ll need to carry the oil dry and/or a shovel if you intend to do this. I’d suggest carrying a five-gallon bucket or so of oil dry on the apparatus, and keeping a cache of it on a trailer or at the station for bigger problems that occur less frequently. You can recycle an old spackle bucket or something similar with a lid–but be sure you wash it out thoroughly before reusing it. You may even be able to use the bucket to catch or contain a leak, if needed.
- Newspapers set out for recycling can be effectively used as a temporary pipe plug at a fuel oil spill.
- Rolls of plastic or tarps can cover spilled solid material to keep it from becoming airborne, and rolled up, they might create a dike.
If you want to purchase more diking materials, commercially-available diking devices can be purchased.
Booming equipment, designed to float on top of bodies of water and contain spills of non-miscible materials with a specific gravity of less than 1 (like most liquid fuels), is also good to have available. Booms can be stored at the fire station and quickly put on an apparatus or a pick-up and brought to the scene. Tip: Keep enough booming material to make at least 2—3 booms across creeks/rivers located in your coverage area. Look closely at the materials the diking/booms are compatible with. Try to avoid purchasing the material designed for “all liquids,” as it will not only absorb the product, but water as well. Also, be sure to start booming far enough downstream to stay ahead of the spill, sort of like making a trench cut on the roof of a building, ahead of the fire.
Normally, there are some materials that will only pick up hydrocarbons, and some that are effective for “aggressive fluids” such as acids/caustics. If you have these fluids in your coverage area, you should carry this specialized type of diking material or have the end user provide that material to you in their facility.
Fire & Vapor Control
Don’t forget that fires involving hazmat situations may be more effectively extinguished using fire extinguishers, so be sure you can access Class D extinguishing agent if Class D hazards are in your coverage area. Encourage the owner(s) of the hazardous material to make that available for you.
Sand may also be helpful (as long as it’s dry), and can be used in a variety of ways at a hazmat incident, such as a diking material, or to smother a fire involving certain hazardous materials — but be sure it is appropriate and compatible for the chemical involved (use the DOT ERG or other reference for this).
Foam may be useful to control vapors–just be sure it’s compatible with the spilled material. Master-stream devices with fog nozzles can be utilized to set up a fog pattern to knock down escaping vapors as well, but remain aware of where the run-off (which will likely now be contaminated) is going. Even ventilation fans, normally used in positive pressure mode, may be able to contain or remove vapors from a building.
Preplan & Drill!
At any hazmat incident, there are a lot of different actions that firefighters can take using just the equipment that they carry for normal operations. But you’ll have a much better idea of what you need if you’re consistently preplanning your coverage area and sharing those preplans with your mutual-aid companies and hazmat response provider(s).
In addition to preplanning, consider likely scenarios and train/drill on them. Don’t hesitate to ask facilities that have hazardous materials what resources they have or can provide to you if something goes wrong. Regular practice with your resources will ensure their rapid and accurate deployment when the real thing happens.
Finally, remember that although the fire service is a very action-oriented organization, it’s sometimes OK to simply isolate the area, deny entry and do nothing else!
Sidebar: First-Arriving Engine Company Duties at a Hazmat Incident
1. Size up the scene from a safe location that’s uphill/upwind. Equipment needed:
- Binoculars
- Books
- Meters
2. Isolate the immediate hazard area and deny entry
- Set up hot/warm/cold zones
3. Perform rescues if possible
4. Prevent further spread from a safe location
5. Check for fixed control systems and activate if appropriate
6. Prepare for arrival of hazmat team; set up decon
7. Continue size-up/monitoring
