Drill prepares workers for disaster

NOELLE FRAMPTON Article Last Updated: 08/08/2008 12:27:11 AM EDT

MILFORD — It was a disaster of giant proportions. A man's crumpled body lay beside a derailed tanker train car, which was smoking and pouring a mysterious corrosive substance onto the tracks and onto five teens who'd walked by.

Nearby, a few drums were also leaking and two cylinders were spewing chlorine gas into the air.

It was all fake, happily — part of a massive hazardous materials drill Thursday involving fire departments from the New Haven Area Special HazMats team, or NASH.

The simulations firefighters faced during the six-hour drill typically wouldn't happen all at the same time in the real world, according to Hamden Fire Chief David Berardesca, but by setting high standards, the team will discover what it needs to improve.

"What we're trying to do is push them to their limits," said Berardesca, public information officer for the day. "It's all a learning tool. We're trying to see what kind of resources we bring in."

He said the most important goal of the drill was to get different towns together and practice working in tandem, adding that a final report on it should be released in about a week.

It was a hot summer day, so each team could perform only one operation, he said. "They just sweat and sweat and there's no way for them to ventilate in those suits."

Firefighters' red ears and necks under helmets as they breathed, Darth Vader-style, behind gas masks, and HazMat suit face masks that fogged with condensation inside confirmed that.

The neon green, airtight HazMat suits, complete with rubber boots and gloves, made workers look like a combination of space aliens and astronauts, but somehow Guilford firefighters still managed to stop the leaking "chlorine" and New Haven firefighters stopped the ammonia that was supposedly flowing from the train car. Four Milford firemen had previously rescued the body — a dummy — stopped the teens who touched the leaking liquid, and used numbers on the tanker to name the mysterious liquid.

The teens, ranging in age from 15 to 19, were members of the Fire Explorers in West Haven, a program designed to give young aspiring firefighters and Emergency Medical Technicians an inside look at fire and rescue work. They role played as victims and were hosed off due to their contact with the ammonia, which was actually water.

Other participating towns included Derby, Orange, Hamden, Wallingford, Meriden, Guilford, North Branford and East Haven, Berardesca said.

Milford Mayor James L. Richetelli Jr., visiting the drill site, said the regional HazMat team was started about five years ago by a regional council of governments as a response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Local leaders realized that smaller towns don't have the resources needed to deal with major hazards, and agreed to pool efforts to ensure that everyone's covered, he said.

But plans are only as good as their implementation, he added. "The possibility of a hazardous materials situation occurs all the time, and we have to be prepared."

The drill cost $35,828 and was paid for by the state Emergency Response Commission, Berardesca said.

John Gould, Webmaster for the state fire chiefs and firefighters associations, among others, was supervising a video of the drill, which he hopes will gain interest and participation in similar activities among other departments when posted on www.ctfirechiefs.org in two days.

Representatives of the Connecticut Fire Academy observed the drill, and Metro North fire personnel were also involved, due to the train car, which was still on the tracks but roped off by caution tape due to passing trains.