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Hazardous Materials: Response Priorities and Actions

2

Objectives

• Discuss search and rescue missions at hazardous materials incidents.

• Discuss exposure protection.

• Discuss defensive control activities.

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3

Risk-Benefit Assessment

• IC needs to decide if any response:– Will be effective in controlling the problem– Will unnecessarily risk harm to responders

with little or no benefit

• If hazardous material is covering a large area and negatively affecting many people, responding personnel must withdraw for their own safety.

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4

Exposures

• Can be people, property, structures, or the environment that are subject to influence, damage, or injury

• Number of exposures is dictated by location.– Urban areas—many exposures– Rural areas—fewer exposures

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5

Evacuation (1 of 7)

• One of the top priorities of the first responder

• Has significant risks, even when properly planned

• May include traveling to homes to advise residents to leave

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6

Evacuation (2 of 7)

• Before evacuation order is given, a safe area and suitable shelter are established.

• Temporary evacuation areas may be needed until evacuation sites or structures can be accessed and opened.

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7

Evacuation (3 of 7)

• Transportation to evacuation area must be arranged for all populations.

• Refer to NAERG to determine initial areas that need to be evacuated.– Provides minimum basic guidelines for

initial response

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8

Evacuation (4 of 7)

• To determine area of evacuation, hazardous materials technicians use devices to monitor concentrations and rate of movement of hazardous material.

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9

Evacuation (5 of 7)

• Fire fighters may be exposed to the hazardous material when performing the evacuation.

• Evacuated residents may pass into or through the hazardous material.

• Adequate protection from the hazardous material is required.

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10

Evacuation (6 of 7)

• Shelter-in-place:– Safeguards people

by keeping them indoors in a safe atmosphere

– Doors and windows stay closed.

– Ventilation systems shut off to avoid bringing in contaminated air.

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11

Evacuation (7 of 7)

• Toxicity of spill determines whether to shelter-in-place or evacuate.– The more toxic, the less effective shelter-in-place

is.

• Expected duration of incident is a factor.– The longer the incident, the more time the material

has to enter into protected areas.

• Ability to evacuate is determined by resources.

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12

Search and Rescue (1 of 2)

• Protection of life is always first priority.• Search and rescue in a fire environment

is different from a hazardous materials incident.– Fire—Rescue done quickly to remove

victim from smoke-filled environment– Hazardous materials—Conditions must be

evaluated before attempting search and rescue.

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13

Search and Rescue (2 of 2)

• IC must determine if search and rescue in the hot zone can be accomplished safely.

• Rescue teams must wear proper PPE to enter the hot zone to retrieve victims.

• Victims are then decontaminated in the warm zone.

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14

Exposure Protection

• Remove exposure from the threat by evacuating residents.

• Place a barrier between the threat and the exposure.

• Neutralize the threat.– Performed only by a responder at the

technician level

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15

Confinement and Containment

• Confinement—keeping material on-site or within immediate area of release– Damming or diking material– Confining vapors to a specific area

• Containment—procedures to stop the leak or release– Plugging and patching containers– Righting an overturned container

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16

Fire Extinguishment (1 of 2)

• Fires involving hazardous materials must be handled cautiously.

• Nature of material must be known before attempting to extinguish fire.

• Some hazardous materials react violently to water

• Physical properties of material must be known.– Specific gravity, flash point, explosive range

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17

Fire Extinguishment (2 of 2)

• Most flammable liquid fires can be extinguished by foam agents.

• Types of foam:– AFFF– Fluoroprotein– Special purpose– Protein– High expansion

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Applying Foam

• Should be gently applied or bounced off another adjacent object.

• Can also be applied in a rain-down method– Less effective when fire is creating an

intense thermal column

• Can also be applied in the roll-on method

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19

Defensive Control Activities

• Natural control points—areas in the terrain or structure that can contain hazardous materials– Doors to a room– Doors to a building– Curb areas of roadways

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Absorption (1 of 2)

• Process of using a material to soak up and hold a spill

• Makes collection and disposal of liquid material more manageable

• Involves adding dry, granular, clay-based material or dry sand to a spill

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21

Absorption (2 of 2)

• Places personnel in close proximity to spill

• Adds volume to the spill

• Absorbent material may react with spilled material.

• Special nonsparking tools may be needed to apply and pick up absorbent.

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Diking, Damming, Diversion, and Retention

• Diking—placing a barrier to prevent a material from entering an area

• Damming—stopping flow by blocking route or channel

• Diversion—redirecting flow away from sensitive areas

• Retention—creating an area to hold released material

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Dilution

• Addition of water to weaken the strength or concentration of a material

• Can only be used when the identity of the material is known

• Greatly increases volume of spill and may overwhelm containment measures

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24

Vapor Dispersion

• Process of lowering the concentration by spreading the vapor over a greater area

• Can be accomplished with fog streams, large displacement fans, or heating/cooling systems

• Consider all consequences before dispersing vapors.

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Vapor Suppression

• Technique of controlling fumes or vapors that are given off by certain materials

• The use of foam agents is the primary procedure for vapor suppression.

• Reducing the temperature of hazardous material may also suppress vapor formation.

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Decision to Withdraw

• IC may decide that the incident cannot be handled without unnecessary risk to personnel.– Resources unavailable– No exposures to be saved

• IC may decide to withdraw to a safe distance.– To wait for additional resources– To let the incident run its course

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Recovery

• Occurs when eminent danger has passed

• Cleanup effort begins

• Transition between emergency responders and commercial cleanup companies

• Incident is NOT over at this point

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When to Terminate the Incident

• Decision to terminate made by the IC

• Recovery phase can go on for days, weeks, or months.

• Ultimate goal is to return the site to a preincident condition.– Often takes place long after fire fighters are

released from the scene

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Summary (1 of 2)

• Options for mitigating a hazardous materials incident include:– Evacuation– Confinement– Containment– Absorption– Dilution– Dispersion

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Summary (2 of 2)

• Concerns about evacuation versus sheltering-in-place are very serious.– Incident may progress and be over before

you can intervene.– Incident is so deadly that responders

should undertake no action.

• Concerns for life safety must weigh on the side of fire fighters.

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