Local emergency personnel gathered in the Knox-Center Township Fire Department Wednesday morning to discuss how to test preparedness by responding to a hypothetical incident involving a hazardous chemical.
Starke County EMA Director J. Nier ran the exercise and it was monitored by Pulaski County EMA Director Sherri Gaillard. Officials from the medical field, law enforcement and fire departments were there to participate.
ISP Trooper Jim Strong was the first person on the scene of the hypothetical accident where a distracted semi driver carrying 6,000 of Anhydrous Ammonia crashed into a train track guardrail, damaging the tanker and causing a pungent white cloud to fill the air.
Responders went into detail about various aspects of the required response such as who to call, how to secure the area as well as assessing the status of victims, establishing a command center and alerting the public about the incident.
More specifically, the group conferred and noted that chemical would need to be treated with copious amounts of water in order to keep the cloud from expanding any further. That information is listed in the Emergency Response Guidebook, which is available to responders. The guidebook indicates the best method to deal with a variety of different chemicals because water will not always be the answer.
After consulting the ERG about necessary protection for this type of incident, the group determined that responding firefighters would be responsible for triage and initial contact with victims in the “hot zone” since they have the necessary safety equipment.
A responding firefighter would have a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) which would protect them from the fumes.
One participant noted that the responders would need to be aware of the amount of oxygen available in the SCBA to know how much time they have and when they’d need to retreat.
EMS is not equipped with those masks so their assistance would be provided outside of the area determined to be affected by the chemical. Hospital representatives noted that they have decontamination tents available, however since this chemical reportedly impacts the respiratory system and not skin, a “wet decon” would not be required.
They said in this scenario, just to be on the safe side, they would likely remove the contaminated clothing and issue a gown and blanket for the victim’s transport to the local hospital where further medical assessment and treatment would take place.
Additional medical treatment would be required for the driver injured in the incident would reportedly have to be extricated and flown to another hospital by helicopter, if he survived the crash and exposure to the chemical.
During the exercise, it was suggested that lines became very busy and there were troubles with reaching one another. Establishing specific channels for certain groups to utilize was recommended in order to cut down on the amount of traffic on one.
This just a general synopsis, with a couple of highlights but responders talked in detail about a number of different matters throughout the course of the exercise.
Sylvester Hudson, a retired Chicago firefighter with many years of haz-mat experience was a very helpful resource on Wednesday. In addition to providing valuable input during the exercise, he handed out a checklist afterward with an acronym to help guide response during an incident involving hazardous material.
The acronym spelled out HAZMAT. The H stands for Hazard Identification, which speaks for itself. The A stands for Action Plan. This is where responders evaluate the situation and determine who is in charge, identify immediate and long-term needs and decide what needs to be done.
The Z stands for Zoning, where responders control the risk by establishing a restricted zone, limited access zone and support zone. The second A in the acronym stands for Assistance. At this step, responders determine additional resources needed, including more fire departments, haz-mat teams, technical assistance or private contractors.
The final letter stands for Termination. At this point responders assess what is needed to conclude the incident such as clean-up, decontamination, physical exams, rehabilitation and post-incident analysis.
The local responders utilized a number of these techniques before the handout was provided. However, they also admitted there are some areas that need to be improved upon to ensure a situation of this nature is handled adequately.
When reviewing the pros and cons, improving communication was emphasized the most. The participants highlighted that a consistent county-wide communications plan needs to be utilized so an established set of procedures would be in place.
EMA Director Nier noted that there is one available and that officials just need to work on implementing it more frequently.
Following the conclusion of the exercise, lunch was provided to help everyone fuel up before returning to their respective jobs. Starke County COAD coordinator Sharon Krick contacted a few local establishments and food was graciously donated by Five Star and Christos.
