Post on 29-Dec-2015
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Hazardous Materials: Response Priorities and Actions
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Objectives
• Discuss search and rescue missions at hazardous materials incidents.
• Discuss exposure protection.
• Discuss defensive control activities.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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