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Hazardous Material Response

Trends In Virginia

VDEM Technological Hazards

Division

CHARGED WITH

• Developing and Implementing the Hazardous

Materials Emergency Response Programs

• Standardized Hazmat Training Program

• Develop and maintain agreements with localities

(contracts with Regional Teams)

Technological Hazards Division

Hazmat Training Branch

• Develops and delivers technician level & specialist hazardous materials training.

• Train 200 – 300 responders a year in advanced hazardous materials response

Field Response Equipment

Emergency Response Vehicle

Detection equipment (Chem-Bio-Rad)

Sampling Equipment

Chemical reference equipment

• Electronic reference

• Paper reference sources

Chemical/Bio protection equipment

• Chemical / biological clothing

• Respiratory equipment

Recent Trends In Meth Labs and

Chemical Suicides

What is Methamphetamine ????

• Illegal substance also known as “meth,” “speed,”

“crank,” “crystal,” and “ice."

• It Can be smoked, snorted, injected, or taken orally

• Its easy to get the necessary ingredients over the

counter.

• Easy to make!

Forms of Meth

Large Chunks typically taken orally

note orange color

Crystal usually smoked

Powder usually inhaled or mixed to

be injected

4 years of meth use

17 months of meth use

Meth Mouth

Meth Labs in Virginia on the

Increase

• There has been a significant jump in Meth

Lab activity:

Totals

2010 = 106

2011 = 217

Gloucester, Va. 2012 Investigators search for evidence in a

trash pile used to dispose of

chemicals

Types of Labs We Are Seeing

• Red Phosphorus Reduction –Red Pea

• Birch/Nazi method

• One Pot = Shake and Bake Method

Red Phosphorous Reduction

• 6 step process

• Uses Iodine crystals, red

phosphorous, and water. It

is mixed and heated to

make Hydriodic Acid.

Danger: this reaction and

heating creates Phosphine!

• The rest of the process to

change the PH involves

more dangers due to

changing from an acid to a

base. (Heat! – Must be

cooled in an Ice bath)

NAZI / Birch Method

• 3 step process

• Uses liquid Anhydrous

Ammonia, Lithium metal,

Pseudoephedrine and

eventually water in a

reaction to create Lithium

Hydroxide.

• Solvents are used to

separate the meth oil

• Gas generators salt out the

mix by forming hydrogen

chloride gas.

Fixed Facility Thefts

Shake and Bake or One Pot

Method

• Lithium and Ammonium Nitrate method

• New on the scene is the easiest and possibly

most dangerous way of making meth

• All chemicals are placed in one sealed container

which is generally flipped upside-down to cause

the reaction.

• Causes an extremely high amount of pressure to

build up within the container

Chemicals / Thermal Hazards

Newport News – July 2011

Flammable Vapors video

Movie

Christopher Newport University March 30, 2012

• Student cooking Meth in the dorm using

the “Red Phosphorous method”.

• Drug materials found in Vehicle

• Wilson Residence Hall – Evacuated

• Two Suspects arrested

Operation Georgia Peach

December 2011 • December 15, 2011

• 6 month investigation

• James City & York County

• 5 suspected Red-P Meth Labs

• 1 Mobile Lab (ambulance)

• Police, Fire, EMS, Hazmat, DEA, SP

• Child Protective Services

• Animal Control

• 10 arrested

Locations in some cases were

very close

Movie

Chemical Suicides in Virginia

Introduction

• What is chemical assisted suicide?

“Also known as detergent suicide, it is a near-instant

death achieved by mixing common household

chemicals into a poisonous cloud of gas”. CNN

Incidents in Japan

In Japan, a total of 500 men, women and children

have killed themselves in 2008, giving the country

the ninth highest suicide rate in the world, according

to the government.

This trend will just get worse as information spreads.

Incidents in Virginia

• January 3, 2011, Henrico first responders were

dispatched to a suicide involving Methyl Bromide

(used in pesticides) in a vehicle. The occupant of the

vehicle released the pesticide from a 100-lb Cylinder

she had obtained from her place of employment.

Several first responders were exposed or potentially

exposed and were taken to the hospital. The subject

attempting suicide succumbed at the hospital.

Incidents in Virginia

January 29, 2011, Norfolk law enforcement discovered a

deceased male in a hotel bathroom along with several

bottles of “Lime Sulfur” (Calcium Polysulfide), “The

Works” (Muriatic Acid), and a bottle of “Garden Fungicide”

(Sulfur). Several suicide notes and two handwritten

warning signs for first responders were also found. Duct

tape was used to seal the main door & bathroom.

Incidents in Virginia

• July 24, 2011 James City County responders were called

to a reported unconscious man in a vehicle. On arrival

they found a vehicle in a secluded parking lot with signs

on the windows. He had mixed chemicals to form

Hydrogen Sulfide.

Incidents in Virginia

• December, 2011 Loudoun County Virginia firefighters

responded to a woman that had consumed aluminum

phosphide tablets. The patient was placed in a negative

pressure room.

Incidents in Virginia

• Readings reached 112ppm (phosphine)

• Transport to Chief Medical Examiner

• IDLH= 50ppm

Common Gas Generated

• Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S)

Very common as in nature and industry

• Potassium Cyanide (KCN)

Forms hydrogen cyanide when mixed in

acids

Hydrogen Sulfide Precursors

Hydrogen Sulfide Characteristics

• Colorless gas. The Odor threshold is 0.77 ppm with

an odor of rotten eggs.

• Molecular weight is 34.08 and vapor density of 1.19

• 1 gallon can be detected by smell 1 mile downwind.

Hydrogen Sulfide Hazards

• Death by inhalation can occur quickly at low levels.

• TWA=10ppm

• IDLH=100ppm

• Death in 5 min=800ppm

• Death instant=1000ppm

Average generated in cars=8000ppm

Hydrogen Cyanide (HCN) Characteristics

• Bluish‐white liquid/colorless gas. Odor threshold 0.58

ppm. “IDLH 50 ppm”

• Odor description Bitter almond (odor may not be

detected by smell)

• Exposure route Inhalation, and skin absorption.

• Density 0.94 (lighter than air) MW= 27.03

• ½ lb of CN and acid mixture will release 30,521 ppm in

a vehicle. This is over 100 times the lethal dose.

Other methods Used

• Carbon Monoxide: combustion process produces

CO. Vehicles are the most common method with

exhaust re-directed into the drivers compartment

via hose.

• Painless

• Charcoal Briquettes (Newport News)

Other methods Used

• Chloramines: Also know as the bathroom killer

• Over 100 deaths a year due to mixing cleaning

products.

• Ammonia (NH3) and Sodium Hypochlorite

Counter measures

• These trends in Virginia have continued to

grow over the last two years.

• Early identification of Meth Labs.

• Increased training of police, fire, rescue.