Essentials of Fire Fighting and Fire Department Operations,

1

• Essentials of Fire Fighting and Fire Department
  Operations,
• 5th Edition

Chapter 23 Operations at Haz Mat
Incidents Firefighter I
2
Chapter 23 Lesson Goal

• After completing this lesson, the student shall
  be able to summarize the basic operations at haz
  mat and terrorist incidents and perform emergency
  decontamination and defensive procedures
  following the policies and procedures set forth
  by the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ).

3
Specific Objectives

• 1. Summarize incident priorities for all haz mat
  and terrorist incidents.
• 2. Discuss the management structure at haz mat
  or terrorist incidents.
• 3. Describe the problem-solving stages at haz
  mat and terrorist incidents.

(Continued)
4
Specific Objectives

• 4. Explain how the strategic goal of isolation
  and scene control is achieved.
• 5. Explain how the strategic goal of
  notification is achieved.

(Continued)
5
Specific Objectives

• 6. Explain how the strategic goal of ensuring
  the safety of responders and the public is
  achieved.
• 7. Summarize general guidelines for
  decontamination operations.
• 8. Describe the three types of decontamination.

(Continued)
6
Specific Objectives

• 9. Discuss implementing decontamination.
• 10. Discuss rescue at haz mat incidents.
• 11. Explain how the strategic goal of spill
  control and confinement is achieved.

(Continued)
7
Specific Objectives

• 12. Discuss crime scene management and evidence
  preservation.
• 13. Explain actions taken during the recovery
  and termination phase of a haz mat or terrorist
  incident.
• 14. Perform emergency decontamination. (Skill
  Sheet 23-I-1)

(Continued)
8
Specific Objectives

• 15. Perform defensive control functions
  Absorption. (Skill Sheet 23-I-2)
• 16. Perform defensive control functions
  Diking. (Skill Sheet 23-I-3)
• 17. Perform defensive control functions
  Damming. (Skill Sheet 23-I-4)

(Continued)
9
Specific Objectives

• 18. Perform defensive control functions
  Diversion. (Skill Sheet 23-I-5)
• 19. Perform defensive control functions
  Retention. (Skill Sheet 23-I-6)

(Continued)
10
Specific Objectives

• 20. Perform defensive control functions
  Dilution. (Skill Sheet 23-I-7)
• 21. Perform defensive control functions Vapor
  dispersion. (Skill Sheet 23-I-8)

11
Incident Priorities

• Life safety
• Incident stabilization
• Protection of property

12
Management Structure

• Firefighters will initiate/operate within their
  standard incident command system at haz mat
  incidents may be some differences from other
  incidents
• Firefighters must operate in accordance with
  predetermined procedures

(Continued)
13
Management Structure

• According to 29 CFR 1910.120, Hazardous Waste
  Operations and Emergency Response, all
  organizations that respond to haz mat incidents
  are required to have an emergency response plan

14
Four Elements of Problem-Solving, Decision-Making
Models

• Information gathering, input, analysis stage
• Processing and/or planning stage
• Implementation or output stage
• Review or evaluation stage

15
Analyzing the Situation
Courtesy of Tom Clawson, Technical Resources
Group, Inc.

• Size-up
• Incident levels

16
Planning Appropriate Response

• Strategic goals and tactical objectives
• Modes of operation
• Incident action plans

17
Implementing the IAP

• After strategic goals have been selected and IAP
  formulate, the IC can implement the plan
• Strategic goals are met by achieving tactical
  objectives
• Tactical objectives accomplished or conducted by
  performing specific tasks

18
Reviewing or Evaluating Progress

• Final aspect of problem-solving process
• If IAP is effective, IC should receive favorable
  progress and incident should begin to stabilize

(Continued)
19
Reviewing or Evaluating Progress

• If mitigation efforts failing or situation
  getting worse, plan must be reevaluated and
  possibly revised
• Plan must be reevaluated as new information
  becomes available/circumstances change

(Continued)
20
Reviewing or Evaluating Progress

• If initial plan not working, must be changed by
  selecting new strategies or changing tactics used
  to achieve

21
Isolation and Scene Control

• One of primary strategic goals at haz mat
  incidents one of most important means by which
  responders can ensure safety of themselves/others
• Separating people from potential source of harm
  necessary to protect life safety of all

(Continued)
22
Isolation and Scene Control

• Necessary to prevent spread of hazardous
  materials through cross contamination
• Isolation involves physically securing/maintaining
  emergency scene by establishing isolation
  perimeters and denying entry to unauthorized
  persons

23
Isolation Perimeter

• Boundary established to prevent access by public
  and unauthorized persons
• May be established before the type of
  incident/attack is positively identified

(Continued)
24
Isolation Perimeter

• If incident is inside a building, isolation
  perimeter might be set at outside entrance,
  accomplished by posting personnel to deny entry

(Continued)
25
Isolation Perimeter

• If incident is outside, perimeter might be set at
  surrounding intersections with response
  vehicles/law enforcement officers diverting
  traffic and pedestrians

(Continued)
26
Isolation Perimeter

• Isolation perimeter can be expanded/reduced as
  needed used to control both access and egress
  from scene

(Continued)
27
Isolation Perimeter

• Law enforcement officers are often used to
  establish and maintain isolation perimeters
• Once hazard-control zones are established,
  isolation perimeter is generally considered to be
  boundary between public and cold (safe) zone

28
Hazard-Control Zones
29
Additional Zones

• Additional areas may be required
• Decontamination zone
• Area of safe refuge
• Staging area
• Rehabilitation area
• Triage/treatment area

30
Notification Process

• Emergency response plans must ensure responders
  understand their role in notification processes
  and predetermined procedures

(Continued)
31
Notification Process

• Notification may be as simple as dialing 9-1-1
  (in North America) to report an incident and get
  additional help dispatched

(Continued)
32
Notification Process

• Strategic goal of notification may also include
  such items as incident-level identification and
  public emergency information/notification

(Continued)
33
Notification Process

• Better to dispatch more resources than necessary
  in an initial response to ensure appropriate
  weight of attack to combat incident conditions

34
Other Agencies

• Notification involves contacting law enforcement
  whenever a terrorist or criminal incident is
  suspected
• Notify other agencies that an incident has
  occurred

(Continued)
35
Other Agencies

• Procedures will differ between military and
  civilian agencies as well as from country to
  country
• Always follow SOPs/OIs and emergency response
  plans for notification procedures

36
Process for Notification

• Because some haz mat incidents and terrorist
  attacks have potential to overwhelm local
  responders, it is important to know how to
  request additional resources

(Continued)
37
Process for Notification

• Process should be spelled out through local,
  district, regional, state, national emergency
  response plans

(Continued)
38
Process for Notification

• In the U.S., notification process is spelled out
  in National Response Plan (NRP) all local,
  state, federal emergency response plans must
  comply with these provisions

(Continued)
39
Process for Notification

• Local emergency response plan (LERP) should be
  first resource a responder in U.S. should turn to
  if they need to request outside assistance

40
Protection

• Overall goal of ensuring safety of responders and
  public
• Includes measures taken to protect property and
  environment
• Accomplished through various tactics

41
Protection of Responders

• First priority at any incident
• Accountability systems
• Buddy systems
• Evacuation/escape procedures
• Safety Officers

42
Protection of the Public

• Includes isolating area and denying entry,
  conducting rescues, performing mass
  decontamination, providing emergency medical
  care/first aid
• Evacuation
• Sheltering in place
• Protecting/defending in place

43
Decontamination Operations

• Performed at haz mat incidents to remove
  hazardous materials from victims, PPE, tools,
  equipment, anything else that has been
  contaminated
• Done to reduce contamination to a level that is
  no longer harmful

(Continued)
44
Decontamination Operations

• Prevent harmful exposures and reduce or eliminate
  spread of contaminants outside hot zone
• Provides victims with psychological reassurance

45
Determining Factors for Type of Decontamination
Operation

• Size of incident
• Type of hazardous materials involved
• Weather
• Personnel available
• Variety of other factors

46
Decontamination Rules

• Basic principles
• Get it off
• Keep it off
• Contain it
• Other decon rules

47
Emergency Decontamination

• Removing contamination on individuals in
  potentially life-threatening situation with or
  without formal establishment of decontamination
  corridor

(Continued)
48
Emergency Decontamination

• Can consist of anything from removing
  contaminated clothing to flushing a person with
  water

49
Emergency Decon Implementation

• Goal
• May be necessary for victims and rescuers
• Victims may need immediate medical treatment
• Several situations in which it may be needed

(Continued)
50
Emergency Decon Implementation

• Quick fix
• Removal of all contaminants may not occur
• Can harm environment
• Procedures may differ depending on
  circumstances/hazards present

51
Mass Decontamination

• Conducting rapid decontamination of multiple
  people at one time

(Continued)
52
Mass Decontamination

• May be conducted with or without formal decon
  corridor usually involves removing clothing and
  flushing individuals with large quantities of
  water

53
Mass Decon Implementation

• Mass decon is physical process of rapidly
  reducing/removing contaminants from multiple
  persons in potentially life-threatening
  situations, with or without formal establishment
  of decon corridor

(Continued)
54
Mass Decon Implementation

• Initiated when number of victims/time constraints
  do not allow establishment of in-depth
  decontamination process
• Availability of ideal solutions in sufficient
  quantities cannot always be insured

(Continued)
55
Mass Decon Implementation

• Can be most readily/effectively established with
  simple water shower system
• Recommended that all victims undergoing mass
  decon remove underclothing at least down to
  undergarments

(Continued)
56
Mass Decon Implementation

• To prioritize, responders must consider factors
  related to medical triage/decontamination
• Triage
• Ambulatory victims
• Nonambulatory victims

57
Technical Decontamination

• Using chemical/physical methods to thoroughly
  remove contaminants from responders/their
  equipment
• May also be used on incident victims in
  non-life-threatening situations

(Continued)
58
Technical Decontamination

• Normally conducted within formal decon line
• Type/scope determined by contaminants

59
Technical Decon Implementation

• Absorption
• Adsorption
• Brushing and scraping
• Chemical degradation
• Dilution
• Neutralization

(Continued)
60
Technical Decon Implementation

• Sanitation, disinfection, sterilization
• Solidification
• Vacuuming
• Washing
• Evaporation
• Isolation and disposal

61
Decon Implementation Considerations

• Appropriate site must be selected
• Number of stations/setup of corridor or line must
  be decided
• Methods for collecting evidence must be
  determined
• Termination procedures must be followed

62
Site Selection Factors

• Accessibility
• Terrain/surface material
• Lighting/electrical supply
• Drains/waterways
• Water supply
• Weather

63
Decon Corridor Layout

• Establish decontamination corridor before
  performing any work in hot zone
• First responders are often involved with setting
  up and working in decontamination corridor

(Continued)
64
Decon Corridor Layout
(Continued)
65
Decon Corridor Layout

• Types of decontamination corridors vary as to
  numbers of sections or steps used in
  decontamination process
• Emergency responders must understand process and
  be trained in setting up type of decontamination
  required by different materials

(Continued)
66
Decon Corridor Layout

• Decontamination corridor may be identified with
  barrier tape, safety cones, other items that are
  visually recognizable
• How firefighters are protected when working in
  the decontamination area depends on hazards of
  the material

67
Cold Weather Decon

• Conducting wet decon operations in freezing
  weather can be difficult to execute safely
• Run-off water can quickly turn to ice

(Continued)
68
Cold Weather Decon

• If pre-warmed water is not available, susceptible
  individuals can suffer cold shock or hypothermia
• If temperatures are 64 degrees or lower,
  consideration should be given to protecting
  victims from cold

69
Rescue at Haz Mat Incidents

• Due to potential of extreme hazards at haz mat
  incidents and defensive nature of actions at
  Operations Level, rescue can be a difficult
  strategy to implement for firefighters,
  particularly in initial stages of a response

(Continued)
70
Rescue at Haz Mat Incidents

• Search and rescue attempts must be made within
  framework of incident action plan with
  appropriate PPE, backup personnel, other safety
  considerations in place

(Continued)
71
Rescue at Haz Mat Incidents

• In many emergency incidents, rescue of victims is
  ICs first priority, but it is important to
  balance vulnerability of firefighters against
  lives of victims

(Continued)
72
Rescue at Haz Mat Incidents

• Hesitation to rush into a situation to assist
  casualties may directly conflict with fire
  fighting strategic priority of rescue first as
  well as with many firefighters natural desire to
  help victims as quickly as possible

(Continued)
73
Rescue at Haz Mat Incidents

• Because of dangers presented by hazardous
  materials, responders who rush to the rescue may
  quickly require the need to be rescued themselves

74
Factors to Consider

• IC makes decisions about rescue based on a
  variety of factors at incident
• Several factors affect the ability of personnel
  to perform a rescue
• Decisions about rescue may differ depending on
  country and jurisdiction

(Continued)
75
Factors to Consider

• Responders must understand what actions are
  appropriate for them given their SOPs, training,
  available equipment and resources

(Continued)
76
Factors to Consider

• Without coming in contact with the hazardous
  material, Operations Level firefighters may
  perform a limited number of tasks with
  appropriate PPE

77
Spill Control and Confinement

• Strategic goal of spill control involves
  controlling product that has already been
  released from its container

(Continued)
78
Spill Control and Confinement

• Spill control minimizes amount of contact product
  makes with people, property, environment by
  limiting or confining the dispersion and/or
  reducing the amount of harm caused by contact
  with the material

(Continued)
79
Spill Control and Confinement

• Tactics and tasks relating to spill control are
  determined by material involved and type of
  dispersion generally defensive in nature

(Continued)
80
Spill Control and Confinement

• Main priority of spill control is confinement and
  prevention of further contamination or contact
  with hazardous material

81
Spill Control and Confinement

• Firefighters trained to the Operations Level may
  perform spill-control activities as long as they
  do not come in contact with the product or have
  appropriate training and PPE

(Continued)
82
Spill Control and Confinement

• Spill control is a defensive operation with most
  important issue being safety of the firefighters
  performing these actions

(Continued)
83
Spill Control and Confinement

• Spills may involve gases, liquids, solids, and
  the product involved may be released into the
  air, into water, onto a surface such as ground or
  a bench top

84
Spill Control and Confinement Tactics

• Hazardous materials may be confined by building
  dams or dikes near source, catching material in
  another container, directing flow to a remote
  location for collection

(Continued)
85
Spill Control and Confinement Tactics

• Before using equipment to confine spilled
  materials, ICs need to seek advice from technical
  sources to determine if spilled materials will
  adversely affect the equipment

(Continued)
86
Spill Control and Confinement Tactics

• Confinement is not restricted to controlling
  liquids dusts, vapors, and gases can also be
  confined

87
Absorption

• Physical and/or chemical event occurring during
  contact between materials that have an attraction
  for each other
• Results in one material being retained in other

(Continued)
88
Absorption

• Some materials typically used as absorbents are
  sawdust, clays, charcoal, polyolefin-type fibers
• Absorbent is spread directly onto hazardous
  material or in location where material is
  expected to flow

(Continued)
89
Absorption

• After use, absorbents must be treated and
  disposed of as hazardous materials themselves
  because they retain the properties of materials
  they absorb

90
Blanketing/Covering

• Involves blanketing or covering surface of spill
  to prevent dispersion of materials such as
  powders or dusts
• Blanketing or covering of solids can be done with
  tarps, plastic sheeting, salvage covers, other
  materials

(Continued)
91
Blanketing/Covering

• Blanketing of liquids is essentially same as
  vapor suppression
• Operations-Level responders may or may not be
  allowed to perform blanketing/covering actions

92
Dam, Dike, Diversion, Retention

• Ways to confine a hazardous material
• Actions are taken to control flow of liquid
  hazardous materials away from point of discharge

(Continued)
93
Dam, Dike, Diversion, Retention

• Firefighters can use available earthen materials
  or materials carried on their response vehicles
  to construct curbs that direct or divert the flow
  away from gutters, drains, storm sewers,
  flood-control channels, outfalls

94
Dilution

• Application of water to a water-soluble material
  to reduce hazard
• Dilution of liquid materials rarely has practical
  applications at haz mat incidents in terms of
  spill control dilution is often used during
  decontamination operations

(Continued)
95
Dilution

• Amount of water needed to reach an effective
  dilution increases overall volume and creates a
  runoff problem

96
Dissolution

• Process of dissolving a gas in water
• Tactic can only be used on such water-soluble
  gases as anhydrous ammonia or chlorine generally
  conducted by applying fog stream to a breach in
  container or onto spill

97
Vapor Dispersion

• Action taken to direct or influence course of
  airborne hazardous materials
• Pressurized streams of water from hoselines or
  unattended master streams may be used to help
  disperse vapors

(Continued)
98
Vapor Dispersion

• Streams create turbulence, which increases rate
  of mixing with air and reduces concentration of
  hazardous material

99
Vapor Suppression

• Action taken to reduce emission of vapors at a
  haz mat spill
• Fire fighting foams are effective on spills of
  flammable and combustible liquids if foam
  concentrate is compatible with material

(Continued)
100
Vapor Suppression

• Water-miscible (capable of being mixed) materials
  destroy regular fire fighting foams require an
  alcohol-resistant foam agent

(Continued)
101
Vapor Suppression

• Required application rate for applying foam to
  control an unignited liquid spill is
  substantially less than that required to
  extinguish a spill fire

102
Ventilation

• Involves controlling movement of air by natural
  or mechanical means
• Used to remove and/or disperse harmful airborne
  particles, vapors, gases when spills occur inside
  structures

(Continued)
103
Ventilation

• Same ventilation techniques used for smoke
  removal can be used for haz mat incidents

104
Leak Control and Containment

• A leak involves the physical breach in a
  container through which product is escaping
• Goal of leak control is to stop or limit escape
  or contain release either in original container
  or by transferring to a new one

(Continued)
105
Leak Control and Containment

• Type of container involved, type of breach,
  properties of material determine tactics and
  tasks relating to leak control
• Leak control and containment are generally
  considered offensive actions

(Continued)
106
Leak Control and Containment

• Offensive actions not attempted by personnel
  trained below the Technician Level with two
  exceptions
• Leak control dictates that personnel enter the
  hot zone, which puts them at great risk

107
Crime Scene Management and Evidence Preservation

• Framework for a response to a terrorist or
  criminal incident is essentially same as that
  used for a response to any other hazardous
  materials incident

(Continued)
108
Crime Scene Management and Evidence Preservation

• Because a crime is involved, law enforcement
  organizations must be notified and included in
  response
• Notifying law enforcement ensures proper
  state/province and federal/national agencies
  respond to the incident

109
Recovery and Termination Phase

• Occurs when IC determines all victims have been
  accounted for and all hazards have been
  controlled
• Components of recovery/termination
• Incident Termination Checklist
• Decontamination/disposal issues

110
On-Scene Debriefing

• Conducted in the form of a group discussion
  gathers information from all operating personnel
• Obtain information from responders

(Continued)
111
On-Scene Debriefing

• One very important step in this process Provide
  information to personnel concerning signs and
  symptoms of overexposure to the hazardous
  materials

112
Post-Incident Analysis/Critique

• Provides responding agencies opportunity to
  evaluate, review, refine issues
• Can be used to evaluate effectiveness of their
  response, identify problem areas, correct
  deficiencies

(Continued)
113
Post-Incident Analysis/Critique

• Information can be used to modify and improve
  operations at future similar incidents
• IC responsible for assigning someone to write a
  post-incident report and provide it to health and
  safety officer and chief of the agency

(Continued)
114
Post-Incident Analysis/Critique

• Once all the necessary interviews have been made
  and documents gathered, a post-incident analysis
  should be scheduled for all agencies involved in
  incident

(Continued)
115
Post-Incident Analysis/Critique

• Formal analysis of incident will be based on
  information gathered for post-incident analysis

116
Summary

• For firefighters, hazardous materials incidents
  are similar in many ways to other emergencies to
  which they respond. The same universal priorities
  apply life safety, incident stabilization, and
  property conservation and an incident management
  system is needed.

(Continued)
117
Summary

• However, there are also some major differences
  compared to structure fires, for example. In a
  structure fire, as long as firefighters are
  located outside of the collapse zone, they are
  relatively safe.

(Continued)
118
Summary

• In a hazardous materials incident, personnel can
  be at risk a considerable distance from the point
  of release. One major difference between the
  property conservation priority at hazardous
  materials incidents is the increased need for
  environmental protection.

(Continued)
119
Summary

• There are also differences in the size-up process
  compared to structure fires. Since many hazardous
  materials are highly toxic and can be spread over
  a wide area, the initial identification of the
  materials involved may have to be done from a
  considerable distance away.

(Continued)
120
Summary

• Finally, because of the highly toxic nature of
  some hazardous materials, fire officers and their
  crews may be untrained and unequipped to mitigate
  a hazardous materials release. In these cases,
  they must establish and maintain a safe perimeter
  around the incident scene and call for hazardous
  materials specialists who are trained and
  equipped to handle such incidents.

(Continued)
121
Summary

• In support of these specialists, firefighters
  must provide fire protection, and be capable of
  assisting with containment efforts such as
  damming and diking, and setting up and operating
  decontamination stations.

122
Review Questions

• 1. What are the three incident priorities at all
  haz mat and terrorist incidents?
• 2. What information should be gathered by first
  responders during the initial assessment of an
  incident?
• 3. Describe incident levels

(Continued)
123
Review Questions

• 4. What are hazard-control zones?
• 5. What factors must be addressed in large-scale
  evacuations?
• 6. Define the three types of contamination.

(Continued)
124
Review Questions

• 7. What actions can Operations-Level
  firefighters perform during rescue operations?
• 8. List defensive confinement and spill control
  actions.

125
Review Questions

• 9. Who must be notified and included in the
  response to a terrorist or criminal incident?
• 10. What information should be given to
  responders at an on-scene debriefing?