Feb. 5, 2008 - Another segment of the OFD
When I was a kid, there was a small glass vial in my parent’s garage that contained mercury. I would go in there from time to time, open the bottle and pour its contents into the palm of my hand. It was fun to break the grey shimmering blob into smaller parts and let them run back together again. It fascinated me to know that I was allowing molten metal to touch my skin without being hurt by it. I did not know that I was playing with a toxic substance. There was a lead bar in that garage that I would sometimes admire for its seemingly contradictory qualities of heaviness and ductility. I would dig my thumbnail into it. We had chemicals called Chlordane (an ant killer) and Creosote (a wood preservative) that are now banned as known carcinogens. I used to get that stuff all over me as I worked with it.
This is a new day and age. Awareness and pro-activity have replaced ignorance and unexplained tragedy. An example of this more sophisticated discipline is Oakland Fire Department’s Haz-Mat Team. Haz-Mat is a shortened phrase that really stands for “Hazardous Materials”. This is another segment of the Department which requires a higher level of certification of a person in order for them to be a participant. In addition to the pre-requisite training, there is also continuing education in the form of class room time and field exercises. The following collection of photographs are of their latest training exercise which was conducted at a little used park down by the Port of Oakland’s shipping terminal.
Here we see Firefighters Tran and Georgatos in level “A” suits, preparing to drive into the simulated “hot zone”.
They arrive at the first set of “victims”. There is a sign on our inflatable patient that describes what is ailing him or her. The team will determine what to do with that person based on what the sign says. Obviously, mouth to mouth resuscitation is out of the question.
This patient is still alive, and will be placed on a stretcher and taken to “de-con” to have the hazardous material scrubbed off by other people in level “A” suits before being sent off to the hospital. The other patients didn’t fare so well, and were placed in body bags.
 The next station in our drill involves a leaking gas cylinder. The team must use their tools to stop the leak. This job is made especially hard by the level "A" suits which protect our team from the hazard. This protection comes at the expense of severely limited vision, mobility and sense of touch.
After that, our team places a leaking container into an "over-drum" that is used to contain spilled liquids or solids. Screwing on the lid is harder than it looks when you can't see or feel what you're doing.
From here, our intrepid team goes to the “shovel up the loose dry material” station to practice their use of a wheel barrow and shovel. That might seem like a basic skill, but it is better to practice now rather than on the real deal.
From here we go on to the “tip up the 55 gallon drum and haul it away” station. Again, it seems like a simple process, but now there won’t be as many surprises when we are faced with an actual incident.
Our last challenge for the day is the “squeeze through a tight spot” station. That might seem like a no-brainer, but stop to consider the claustrophobic nature of the level “A” suit. Now compound that with having to travel through a place that you don’t know for sure that you can get through. If you do make it through, there is the possibility that a sharp edge might tear your suit, exposing you to the deadly hazard. In this situation there is no consequence for failure, but in an actual setting, panic might make the difference between getting out safely or becoming part of the problem. Remember, our team members carry an air supply that will last one hour at the most. There is no way to change out the SCBA bottle without exposing them to the hazardous environment that they were sent to mitigate.
At the end of the exercise, our team members have a well deserved sense of empowerment. Let's give them a big hand for a job well done!
And please, don't forget; inside that de-humanizing plastic suit is a real live person that is putting their life on the line to accomplish a remarkable task, saving lives, the enviornment and property as they go.
Be safe,
Hec @ 19
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