Over the last week, a Hazmat Operations Level full course was held at Crary Hose. Three of our members (FF Brubaker, FF Streeter, and Chief 5-10 Skelton) and numerous other members from around Tioga County, were taught the necessary skills to operate at this level. The class was instructed by John Erich and Jim Sheppard, both seasoned hazardous material responders and a subject matter experts. The course consisted of 24 hours of training, including 16 hours of classwork and 8 hours of hands-on training.
Hazardous Material training comes in 4 levels: Awareness, Operations, Technician, and Specialist. Awareness-level responders are tasked with taking charge of initial protective actions, identifying the hazardous material from a distance if possible, and then taking additional appropriate actions such as isolation and evacuation. Operations-level responders are allowed to play a more hands-on role in a HazMat incident. Typically Operations-Level responders will be the responders with the highest level training initially on-scene, and can quickly take action to mitigate spread.
Operations-Level Responsibilities
- Assisting in controlling the spread of the hazardous material,
- Knowledge of defensive hazmat techniques such as absorption, damming, and diverting of liquids, and dispersion and suppression of vapors.
- Experience in basic air monitoring
- Technical and mass decontamination
- Assisting with evacuation and victim rescue
- The establishing of hazard zones
- Preservation of evidence
Participants learned about all of these skills in class and then practiced these skills in the real-world. The class built an underflow dam that would be used to contain a spill of a hazardous material that floats on water and is not water-miscible, such as gasoline, as well as using an absorbent sock to skim a floating hazardous material from the surface of a pool. Students practiced using foam to suppress vapors from a hazmat spill. Donning and doffing PPE and decontamination were also covered and practiced.
Congratulations to all participants who passed the course. We are proud to say that all three of our members who took the course passed the test, bringing the total number of Dept 5 members with HazMat Operations-Level training to 15. Thank you to all who participated, and a special thanks to John Erich and Jim Sheppard for sharing your knowledge with us, and Ilene Erich for preparing an excellent lunch Saturday and Sunday.
Chief 5-10 Skelton Putting on the Booties 
Instructor Erich taping on the gloves 
Instructor Erich taping on the gloves 
Chief 5-10 Skelton in Tyvex with SCBA 
All suited up 
Building an underflow dam 
Building an underflow dam 
Skimming with absorbent sock 
Foam to supress vapors 
Chief 5-10 Skelton operating the pump on Engine 5-3 
Using an eductor to produce foam with a handline.