Haz Mat Team Critiques a Fatal Incident in Chester County

On Monday January 9th, the Chester County Hazardous Materials Team presented a training program on a fatal hazardous materials incident that occurred in Chester County in 2011. The program, that was put together by personnel from the haz-mat team, and has been presented across the country at various hazardous materials conferences where it has been very well received.

The program was presented at the East Whiteland Fire Company. The incident occurred on Saturday May 7th 2011 at 1033am at a vacant commercial radio/telephone site on Valley Hill Road in Charlestown Township. Scraping crews were working inside the building removing scrap materials as part of the demolition process. The building is a two story commercial structure constructed of concrete walls with no windows and very few egress points. The incident started as a medical emergency for an unconscious person and quickly escalated into a full blown hazardous materials incident with multiple downed victims inside the building. The program discussed the initial responses and actions of the crews from East Whiteland and Lionville Fire Companies and how those actions assisted in mitigating the incident and also most importantly prevented additional victims and most certainly additional fatailities if the wrong actions would have been taken. The program then expanded into the difficulties the haz-mat team faced with working an incident with unknown hazardous materials, limited haz-mat response personnel and interactions with fire/rescue and EMS personnel. The program also touched on how Paoli Hospital handled the contaminated victims as they were brought to their facility. The program lasted approximately 2 hours and was well attended by crews from East Whiteland Fire Company, Lionville Fire Company and the Chester County Hazardous Materials Team.

Food for the training program was provided by Firehouse Subs of Frazer. Anyone interested in this program may contact the Chester County Haz Mat Team.