Town police, fire departments to receive bioterrorism equipment
By John Rook , Staff Writer 12/06/2003
EAST HAVEN - Both police and fire officers will be getting much needed equipment in the next couple of weeks as the state begins the first phase of a multi-year project to help towns defend against bioterrorism.
The first phase of the project, which is being coordinated by the Connecticut Department of Public Safety in conjunction with the national Homeland Security office, will see every municipality in the state receive standard, protective equipment necessary to effectively fight a chemical attack. The entire project is projected to run until 2005 and will also provide training and additional personnel before it is concluded.
The $8.6 million plan calls for all towns to receive the same type of equipment so that different community departments can share in resources.
"We want there to be familiarity of the equipment between fire departments and police departments, so that each is using the same type of equipment," said Sergeant J. Paul Vance, Media Relations director for the DPS. "We want there to be standard use, so that if a fire department in New Haven needs to borrow something, then a neighboring community will be able to provide it. The last thing we want is confusion when a crisis hits."
The standard equipment each town can expect would be HAZMAT suits, which protect the wearer from exposure to chemical or biological agents, face masks, radios to communicate effectively in a crisis, and environmental meters, which can detect low to high volumes of contaminates in an area.
While each community will receive the same type of equipment, the amount each town receives will vary depending on population and on departmental manpower. Also, specialized equipment, such as decontamination trailers, which can decontaminate up to 100 infected personnel at a time, may only be handed out to one town per region for use by all surrounding municipalities.
All of this will come on the heels of over two years of intensive work by East Haven officials to make their community as safe as possible. For Fire Chief Wayne Sandford, who heads the town's efforts to improve bioterrorism readiness, the state's decision to provide standard equipment rather then money is a good idea.
With cash, towns all over the state could buy whatever they wanted," said Sandford. "With this, you have uniformity from town to town. That way, if our fire department needs to respond to a call in Norwich, we don't have to worry about showing up and finding equipment we are not trained to use, or are not equipped to use. I support this plan wholeheartedly."
According to Sandford, East Haven is expected to receive its own decontamination trailer, which will be used by neighboring towns, and improved radio capabilities, which will allow local police and fire department to communicate directly in case of an emergency. Currently, the town has level A clothing for its officers, which is used by first responders to a scene, and is expecting new HAZMAT uniforms from the state.
All of this has made East Haven, according to Mayor Joseph Maturo Jr., a template for other towns in the area and one of the most prepared communities in the state.
"Communications have been improved, towns can now talk to one another by radio, and response procedures have been developed," said Maturo. "We have been doing this now for over a year and I feel we are on the right track. There is still more that needs to be done, but I feel that East Haven is as prepared for any type of attack as anyone in the state could be."
One of the steps taken by town officials was to lead a charge to regionalize efforts to protect local towns against possible attack. Instead of spending millions of dollars to develop individual specialized teams for each town, Sandford and other local fire officials decided to try and convince town officials to "pool" their resources, making sure that each town share in the responsibilities.
From that, the New Haven Special Hazards association was formed, which includes 15 local municipalities. Towns such as Guilford, Branford, North Branford and West Haven have all agreed to share in costs and equipments and have all taken part in extensive training courses to prepare specific officers for chemical attacks.
Any new equipment being provided by the state will allow the association, according to Sandford, to move ahead on some other ideas that could provide even more security in case of an attack.
"After the communications is setup the way we would like it, we want to pursue individuals from the private sector who specialize in a specific area," said Sandford. "For instance, if we find ourselves on Interstate 95 with an acid spill, if we have someone available who specializes in acid we could find out what to do with it. We wouldn't use these people all of the time, only in cases where they could be useful, but that is for further down the road."
This first phase will begin in a matter of weeks according to Public Safety officials, although no specific dates could be given out. Each town was asked to submit an individual assessment of what would be needed to protect its citizens from an attack by Nov. 1 and so far 126 municipalities have responded.
Once all responses are received, the state will begin to distribute the necessary equipment.

ŠThe Advertiser 2003