http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/local/scn-gt-drills1may27,0,1516674.story?coll=green-news-local-headlines
By Martin B. Cassidy
Staff Writer
May 27, 2006
Bundled in a hooded aluminum suit and resembling an astronaut, Todd Bataille tried to raise his arms to his throat to indicate to his fellow town firefighters he was choking.
After half an hour demonstrating how to don the vapor-sealed chemical protection suit and another 20 minutes sweating in it, Bataille wanted a break before putting the suit on again for another drill.
"Me too?" Bataille asked safety instructor Timothy Regan about the next drill.
Yesterday and earlier this week, as part of the Greenwich Fire Department's annual refresher training to respond to hazardous-materials incidents, two FDNY safety consultants reviewed critical procedures for getting into and using the ungainly airtight protective suits designed to guard against the most dangerous and toxic chemicals.
While tedious, wearing the $1,200 aluminized fiberglass suit properly almost assures the firefighter will not be exposed to chemicals, Regan said.
"You guys are looking at me and saying, 'You must be kidding me,' " Regan said. "But if we did it right, we give this guy an ironclad guarantee that he isn't contaminated."
In their annual hazardous-materials training, town firefighters cover how to mitigate spills and releases of chemical and biological contaminants, and decontaminate people exposed to harmful substances.
They also review state environmental guidelines and how to assess the concentration and amount of chemical and biological substances to gauge their danger.
With only a glowstick for light in one drill, the firefighters were asked to attach sections of pipe in a pitch-black room while a canister emitted oxygen at a deafening volume.
"Sometimes you might have to work in the dark and noise and not be able to communicate," FDNY Lt. John Berna, one of the consultants, said.
The firefighters also ran through a drill identifying a barrel of chemicals, and a rescue search for a person who was unconscious from exposure to chemicals.
In the event of an incident in which numerous people are contaminated, firefighters drive and operate the town's mass decontamination unit, which can clean 1,000 people in an hour.
As part of the regionwide effort to coordinate a response plan to a chemical or biological attack or disaster, the town has received three specially designed trucks for this.
In return for the trucks, the town commits to respond to disasters throughout the state.
The airtight chemical-response suits are stored aboard a 38-foot truck dubbed Special Operations One, which includes equipment for detecting chemical and biological threats, as well as a mobile headquarters with satellite phones and global positioning equipment.
Greenwich Deputy Fire Chief Robert Kick, the commander of the group of firefighters trained yesterday, said that it would take a very significant chemical spill or other disaster to require firefighters to use the suits.
"I think maybe in the past 10 or 15 years there haven't been many incidents where we needed them," Kick said. "But when you need them, you really need them, and if you mess up you're dead."
Copyright © 2006, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.